Emma Pearson - The Philosopher's Stone
by Emmote
Summary: We're introduced to Emma Pearson, an orphan living in London, who starts to struggle with insomnia and a lack of appetite when she is offered a place at the school we all know and love. This story is written to introduce an OC and remains fairly faithful to canon. Also, word of warning, Emma is a Vampire, so if that isn't your thing, perhaps you might want to avoid.
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

**Chapter 1 – The Beginning**

The sun was rising from the horizon marking the end of a warm July night. It was the beginning of just another ordinary summer day for most people, but in a small orphanage in London, there was an 11 year old girl called Emma Pearson who's life would never be ordinary again.

Emma was not surprised to wake very early this morning. She had been having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep for weeks now and the dark shadows under her bright-green eyes were a clear indication of this. Her hair was very long, black and remarkably straight. Emma wasn't a popular child, she kept herself to herself and spoke only when spoken to. She was also quite fast and agile, despite her small stature, although lately she had been feeling quite lethargic.

The room Emma slept in was very small and there was very little floor space as the bed and wardrobe took up the majority of it. She sat up in bed, looked at herself in the mirror on her wardrobe door and sighed. It would be a few hours until anyone else woke up so she got dressed and lay back on her bed. Her mind wandered a lot and she thought of many things.

When she heard that others were awake she decided to get out of bed and go to the dining room. She didn't want any breakfast, but she got some cereal anyway, to avoid any attention. She had one mouthful and stopped. It had made her feel full already and the taste wasn't very nice. She didn't find this particularly unusual either. She had been eating less and less recently and the staff at the orphanage were getting concerned. They thought that maybe Emma was developing an eating disorder, which apparently was quite a common occurrence for girls her age. This wasn't the case though. Emma didn't know why she felt full and slightly ill very quickly, or why she could barely get any sleep, though she certainly had some theories. Whatever was happening, she didn't want to think about it, so she decided to help wash up to pass the time.

It was a few hours later when Mrs Cole, the matron, knocked on Emma's bedroom door while she was reading. Emma put her book down and clambered off the end of the bed to answer the door.

'Come with me.' ordered Mrs Cole. 'There is someone who would like to speak with you.'

Emma, wondering whether she was in trouble for breaking curfew again, followed Mrs Cole in silence down a short corridor until they came to the final door, Mrs Cole's office. Mrs Cole opened the door and motioned for Emma to enter. Emma walked inside and the door was shut behind her, Mrs Cole did not enter. This office was larger than Emma's bedroom, but still quite small, and just as plain. Inside was a tall, black-haired woman in simple yet business-like clothes that clearly didn't suit her. She seemed completely out of place.

'Miss Pearson?' asked the woman in a clear voice.

Emma nodded slowly, unsure of what this was all about.

'Please take a seat.' The woman motioned her hand to a chair.

Emma did as she was told and sat down. The woman took Mrs Cole's seat behind the desk.

'My name is Professor McGonagall, I'm the Deputy Headmistress at a school called Hogwarts and I'm here to offer you a placement. The school was built to teach particularly gifted students. You may have some idea of what I mean?'

Emma shook her head quizzically.

'That is understandable.' said professor McGonagall nodding her head knowingly, 'Hogwarts is a school where witches and wizards study magic.'

Emma was confused by this. 'So, I'm a witch then?' asked Emma after a few moments, realising the implications of the offer.

'Yes, certainly.'

There was another pause while Emma considered this. She wanted to be sure this was real so she asked, 'This may sound rude, miss, but this isn't a joke is it?'

Professor McGonagall simply answered by turning a pen that was sitting on the desk into a caterpillar. 'That is Transfiguration, and it is the subject I teach.'

Emma watched in awe as the caterpillar, which was a pen only moments ago, slowly moved towards a pile of papers. Professor McGonagall turned it back into a pen before it started eating them. This was a lot for Emma to take in and the professor waited patiently while she thought about what to say.

'But... I've never done any... anything like that before.' stammered Emma, 'How do you know I'm a witch?'

'When a magical child is born in the UK, their names are added to a list. We then use that list to invite prospective students to Hogwarts on their 11th birthday.'

'My 11th birthday was nearly seven months ago, though.'

'Yes,' said McGonagall shifting slightly in her chair. 'Some children, particularly those born to non-magical parents, can take some time to develop their magic. This can cause delays in their name being added. In this case, your name didn't appear until a few weeks ago. Hence why the offer is so late.'

'Oh,' was all Emma could reply with for a minute or so.

'You need not worry, Miss Pearson. You certainly are a witch, and accepting the placement at Hogwarts will help you develop that talent.'

'What do I need to do?' asked Emma slowly.

The professor handed Emma a letter. The paper was thick and yellow and the writing on the front was in an emerald-green ink. The unusual part was that it was addressed not just to the orphanage, but directly to her bedroom as well. Emma opened it and read the first page:

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

 _Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

 _Dear Miss Pearson,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

Emma lifted the first page away to see the second page, on it was a rather large list of items such as a uniform, a book list and a lot of items she had never even heard of. She also wondered what it meant by 'await your owl' and was about to ask when professor McGonagall said, 'Don't worry about sending a reply. I will let the school know of your decision personally.'

'I don't think I can accept, miss.' said Emma suddenly sulking. 'I have no money and there are a lot of items on this list.'

'Not to worry, we are aware of your situation.' said the professor, 'There is a fund at Hogwarts for those who require assistance to buy supplies. It isn't a lot, but it will be enough to get by.'

Professor McGonagall took a small pouch of coins from a bag and handed it over. Emma opened it to look at the coins and found that there were gold, silver and bronze ones. Even though she didn't know their value, she was sure this was the most amount of money she had ever seen, let alone held in her hands. 'Thank you.' said Emma appreciatively, 'But where would I buy these things?'

'In a place called Diagon Alley' said professor McGonagall. 'There is a Wizarding pub called The Leaky Cauldron in Charring Cross Road. Diagon Alley is through this pub. I can accompany you if you wish.'

'Yes, please.' replied Emma excitedly.

Emma knew where Charring Cross Road was, though she'd never heard of the pub. She loved exploring London and would often sneak out when she wasn't allowed, and more often than not, got in trouble for it. It was the only rule she ever broke, going out during curfew, much to the annoyance of the staff at the orphanage.

Emma would have been perfectly happy to go by herself, but she still didn't quite believe what was going on so she wanted to stay by Professor McGonagall's side.

'Very well then.' said Professor McGonagall, getting up out of her chair. 'Are you ready to go now?'

'Yes, miss, I think so.'

'Let's go then. Oh, and Pearson, it would be more appropriate if you were to call me Professor.'

Emma nodded understandingly. 'Yes, Professor.'


	2. Chapter 2 - Diagon Alley

**Chapter 2 – Diagon Alley**

The Leaky Cauldron wasn't that far away from the orphanage. It was about a twenty minute walk but Professor McGonagall took them on a slightly longer route than Emma would have taken were she alone. On the way the professor started telling Emma the rules at Hogwarts. She mentioned things like 'under-age witches and wizards are not allowed to use magic at home', and many others. She seemed to stress one rule most of all. 'There will be no wandering around the castle after hours'. At once, Emma knew that Professor McGonagall had spoken with Mrs Cole and she lowered her head at the accusation. Professor McGonagall also told Emma how to get on to the Hogwarts Express from platform nine and three-quarters in King's Cross before 11 o'clock on 1 September and also how much each wizard coin was worth.

Emma had many questions to ask but kept quiet, as she usually did around adults, until they reached The Leaky Cauldron. It was a tiny grubby-looking pub. If Professor McGonagall hadn't pointed it out, Emma wouldn't have noticed it was there. She'd certainly never seen it before, and she'd been down this street more times than she could count. The people walking by all seemed oblivious to it, their eyes wandering from the book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if it wasn't there. The professor led Emma inside.

For a place that was meant to be one of the main doorways between the muggle world and magical world, it was very dark and shabby. It was also remarkably empty. The only person in the dimly-lit room, Emma supposed, was the barman who upon seeing the professor said, 'Ah, Minerva. Letter from Dumbledore for you, arrived not five minutes ago.'

The barman handed the letter to McGonagall. It seemed to be of the same type of thick, yellow paper Emma's letter was. Emma watched the professor open and read the letter, while the barman gave a courtesy nod to Emma and went back to his duties.

'I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you here now Miss Pearson. Something has come up that needs my immediate attention. Diagon Alley is just through there, I'm sure Tom will be happy to show you.' She looked at the barman and he nodded. 'If you buy the supplies you need from the list I gave you earlier and return here, I will make sure someone is able to escort you home.'

Emma nodded. 'Thank you, Professor.'

And with that, Professor McGonagall left the same way they had come in and was gone.

'This way, miss.' motioned Tom the barman. 'Since you don't have your wand yet I'll open the way for you. Pay close attention so that you can open it on your way back.'

Tom the barman tapped the wall three times slowly with his wand making sure Emma was watching. As soon as he was done a small hole appeared in the wall which grew quite quickly into a large archway. The barman smiled at Emma, 'Enjoy yourself now and I will see you later.'

Emma thanked Tom and looked out with wonder into a vast, cobbled street. The street was full of shops and in contrast to the pub, was bristling with people.

'Twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a silver Sickle and seventeen Sickle's to a gold Galleon.' repeated Emma to herself, remembering what the professor had said. She got out the list of supplies and looked in the money pouch again. The professor had said that Emma may have to buy second-hand things, but she had no problem with that. Everything she owned was second-hand.

Emma was a smart girl and knew that because money would be tight she should visit the shops one by one to find out how much items would cost, and so work out what she could afford. As Emma walked forward into the alley, the stone arch behind her collapsed back into a solid wall. The first shop she came to was selling cauldrons. The sign on the shop said Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self Stirring – Collapsible. Emma went inside. The shop was a mess, cauldrons everywhere in piles stacked haphazardly up to the ceiling. She checked her list and saw that she needed a standard sized pewter cauldron. She found them and noted their price.

Emma visited many other shops, even ones she didn't need anything from. She was finding shopping immensely fun, especially in a place like this. Some of the shops she entered were the apothecary with it's weird and wonderful substances in strange bottles; the book shop, Flourish and Blotts; the uniform shop, Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and even a pet shop, Eeylops Owl Emporium. The last shop Emma went to was Ollivander's wand shop. She didn't go in because it looked a little creepy. She noted how much the wands cost from the window and worked out what she could buy.

It turned out Emma had rather more money than she was led to believe. She had found that if she bought all her books second-hand and got the cheapest cauldron, glass phials, telescope and brass scales, she could buy her robes and wand brand new, and even have a couple of Galleons spare. She was very pleased with this so she went back to buy a trunk to store everything in. Once she had bought the cauldron, the telescope, the phials and the scales she went to get her uniform.

Madame Malkin was a small and welcoming witch dressed in robes of pale-green. She seemed to be alone in the shop this time, for which Emma was thankful.

'Hello again dear. Hogwarts wasn't it?' she asked as Emma closed the door.

Emma simply nodded shyly, not sure what to expect.

'This way then.' said Madame Malkin, motioning to the back of the shop. 'If you'll just stand on there and we'll fit you a uniform.'

Emma stepped onto a footstool and madame Malkin slipped a long robe over her head and began to pin it to the right length. She watched in the mirror while Madame Malkin worked silently and very quickly, she was clearly very skilled at her work. Before long the robes were done. Emma gave her name so that name tags could be put on them, and then paid for them. She thanked Madame Malkin and left the shop feeling much happier. Now she had to get a wand, which she wasn't looking forward to at all. Ollivander's shop looked very uninviting to her.

Emma took a deep breath and sighed before walking into the wand shop. A quiet bell rang in the back of the shop as she opened the door. The shop itself was narrow and small and very old. Emma turned to place her trunk of supplies in the corner and turned back, startled, to see an old man, standing in front of the counter.

'Good afternoon.' Mr Ollivander said quietly.

'Good afternoon, sir.' Emma repeated sheepishly.

'And what is your name, my dear?'

'Emma Pearson, sir.'

'Hmmm, I haven't heard that surname in a long time.' he said, thinking. 'Are your parents magical?'

'I don't know sir. I'm an orphan.'

'Oh, I am sorry to hear that.' he said sincerely, pausing for a moment. 'Well, my dear, to the matter at hand, step forward. Which will be your wand arm?'

'I'm left handed, sir, if that is what you mean?'

'Yes, very well, hold out your arm. Yes, that's it.' He measured from her shoulder to fingertip, elbow to wrist, shoulder to floor, and then he started looking among the boxes on the shelves, while the tape measure, much to Emma's surprise, kept on measuring. As he was searching he said 'Every wand has a magical substance at its core. Here at Ollivander's we use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two wands are the same, and you will never get as good results when using another persons wand.'

As he finished talking, the tape measure fell to the floor and he returned with a box and opened it, handing Emma a wand. 'Willow and phoenix feather. Ten and three-quarter inches and quite springy. Give it a wave.'

Emma took the wand and held it apprehensively in her left hand. She noticed in the corner of her eye that Ollivander was looking at her with an unsettling frown and when she looked at him to question it, his pleasant smile had returned. She couldn't help feel that he was a bit mad, so she returned her attention to the wand and went to flick her wrist but Ollivander took the wand from her immediately.

'Very rare to get the right wand first time. Very rare indeed. Not to worry.' he said walking deeper into his shop. He returned a short while later with another box, placing the previous on a chair. 'I wonder... Let's see then, try this. Cherry and dragon heartstring. Nine and a half inches and fairly rigid, but not inflexible.'

Again Emma noticed the unsettling frown but it disappeared the moment she looked at him. Feeling uncomfortable, she took the wand and this time it was not instantly taken from her. She felt a very subtle warmth spread from her fingers and up her arm to her elbow and flicked the end of the wand gently towards a spot on the wall. The point she aimed at vanished and now there was a large hole, through which they could see into the shop next door. It stayed that way for a few moments and then quickly became opaque again.

'Well done, well done. Yes, very good.' said Ollivander beaming. 'Easy customer, yes, thought you might be. Cherry and dragon heartstring, quite unusual. Normally we would use unicorn hair. Interesting, interesting. Magic never ceases to surprise.'

He took the wand from Emma and looked at it, turning it over in his hands. It was finely carved with a subtle cherry blossom branch spiralling and blooming from the base in just the right places so as to make it easier to hold. Emma was already extremely fond of it.

'The wand chooses the witch, miss Pearson. I hope you will accomplish great things with it.' Ollivander placed the wand back into the box carefully and passed it to Emma. She paid seven Galleons for it and left the shop, thankful to be away from the creepy shop and the owner.

Emma gave the list one final check to make sure she had everything and then headed back towards The Leaky Cauldron. On the way she walked past the pet shop again and wanted to get a cat, but she couldn't afford one and not to mention she wouldn't be allowed to keep one at the orphanage. Grudgingly she left the shop and to treat herself, bought two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans which she hid in her trunk. She thought if she couldn't eat cereal without feeling ill, maybe she'll be able to eat these, especially since they never had sweets at the orphanage.


	3. Chapter 3 - On the Way Home

**Chapter 3 – On the Way Home**

Emma was quietly waiting at a table in The Leaky Cauldron looking over the letter and train ticket she had been given by Professor McGonagall. When she had arrived in the pub, the barman asked if she had wanted anything to eat or drink, but she respectfully declined. She still didn't feel up to it just yet, even after a long, busy afternoon shopping.

She had been waiting for nearly fifteen minutes from the moment she had sat down, and had been watching customers enter through the muggle door, and leave through Diagon Alley, or vice versa. She found the differences in appearance of some of the people walking through quite dramatic. There were some very proud faces, some respectful, others kindly, and some, downright sinister. Nearly everyone wore robes, but the styles and colours were as varied as the people who wore them. Emma enjoyed people watching; picking out particularly interesting characteristics in certain people, and this magical world certainly had a lot to offer.

The most shocking of these arrivals was a very large man, almost giant-like. His face was covered in a large mane of hair and a tangled beard. He looked wild and unkempt. He walked in through the door to the muggle street and had to stoop under the frame to get inside and made his way to the bar.

'The usual, Hagrid?' asked the barman.

'No thanks, Tom, I'll jus' have a cuppa tea.' said Hagrid.

He looked around the room for a place to sit and spotted Emma and walked over to her. The ground shook slightly as he drew nearer. 'You must be Emma then. McGonagall said you'd be 'ere.' he said, taking a seat opposite Emma. 'I'll be takin' yer back home, but hope you don't mind if we stay a bit longer. Bin a long trip gettin' 'ere see, and I'd like to have a cuppa before we set off.'

Emma looked up at him, completely overwhelmed and could only muster, 'Okay.'

'Should introduce meself, my name's Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.'

'Nice to meet you, sir.' stammered Emma

'Call me Hagrid, everyone does.'

Emma nodded. This whole moment felt utterly surreal. This man was nearly twice the size of most adults.

'So, got all yeh books and things? I know they don't give yeh much money from the fund.'

'Yes, I have everything, thank you.' said Emma. Then she opened the trunk so that Hagrid could see. 'I even have some money left over.'

'Ah, good, good.' said Hagrid, picking out Emma's wand box. 'Yeh don't mind do yeh?'

Emma shrugged as Hagrid opened the box to look at the wand. He didn't take it out, for which Emma was thankful, she was worried he might break it.

'Ollivander's.' praised Hagrid, moving the box this way and that to see it better in the light. 'Only place fer wands. An' this one is very nice indeed.'

Emma had a wide smile on her face as she took the box back from Hagrid and put it back into her trunk. She'd grown very attached to her wand already. When she sat up straight again, Hagrid was looking at her strangely, like he'd seen a ghost. She was about to ask when she was interrupted by the barman bringing Hagrid his tea.

'Sure you don't want anything, Miss?' asked the barman.

'I'm sure, thank you.'

Hagrid finished his tea and sat back with a satisfied sigh. 'Are yeh ready to go then?' he asked.

'Yes, I think so.' said Emma starting to get up.

'Not just yet. Wait 'ere fer just a moment, I'll be right back.' said Hagrid smiling. He left through the archway into Diagon Alley and was gone for only a few minutes.

'Here yeh are.' he said when he got back, handing over a small box of basic potion ingredients that Emma had seen earlier but didn't buy as it wasn't on the list. 'Seen as you been given money from the school, yer allowed to use the schools supplies of potion ingredients. Professor Snape's an ass though and won't let yer use much. So, put this with your other things. Oh, and please don' mention what I said about Professor Snape.'

'Of course not. Thank you, Hagrid.' said Emma beaming.

'Don' mention it,' said Hagrid happily.

Emma put the ingredients box in the trunk and they set off. Hagrid insisted on pulling the trunk himself. 'Can't be havin' you trailing this around.' he said. 'Yeh'll do yerself a mischief.'

Emma was happy with this as it was certainly heavier than she was.

Hagrid spoke a lot on the way back to the orphanage and Emma found it very easy to speak to him. He asked her what she knew about Hogwarts and told her about his job there looking after the grounds. He asked her whether she had ever done any magic before she received the letter and was surprised when she had said no. He had also asked her what happened when she had been given her wand and laughed when she explained how she made the wall disappear.

Unhappily for both of them however, they had arrived near the orphanage all too soon. Hagrid stopped short of the orphanage, not wanting to give anyone a fright.

'Got everything? Yer letters and ticket?'

'I think so.' said Emma, pulling the letter out of her pocket to make sure. 'Yes, it's all here.'

'Right. Professor McGonagall told you about the train an' everythin'?'

'Yeah.'

'Good. No later than eleven, remember.' he said waving his finger at her.

Emma nodded. She thought he was fussing too much but it was comforting to know that he was checking.

'Well then, goodbye Emma. Visit me when you get to Hogwarts.'

'I will, Hagrid, bye.'

Hagrid put the trunk down at Emma's feet. If it wasn't on wheels it would be impossible for her to move it. She looked down to grab the handle and looked up again to see Hagrid was nowhere to be seen. 'Magic.' she said to herself and giggled. She was pulling the trunk along slowly as she entered the orphanage as Mrs Cole was walking by.

'What have you got there, Emma?' she asked, startled.

'School stuff, miss.' huffed Emma, clearly having difficulty.

'Here, let me take that for you. Do you want it in your room?'

'Yes please, miss. Thank you.'

Mrs Cole took the trunk into Emma's room and placed it awkwardly beside the wardrobe. Now there really was no floor space left, and Mrs Cole could only just close the door.

'You should come to dinner now, Emma.'

'No thank you, miss. Professor McGonagall got me dinner while we were out.' lied Emma, still not wanting to eat yet.

'Okay then. And on the subject of school. When is it you start again?'

'The first of September, miss. I'll need to catch a train from King's Cross Station.'

'We'll see about getting you a taxi then. You're not walking there on your own, especially not dragging that thing around.' she said gruffly, gesturing at the trunk.

'Thank you, miss.'

Mrs Cole nodded and left then to go back to the dining room, leaving Emma alone.

Emma had the rest of July and August to wait before she could leave for Hogwarts. She was trying to be patient, but she was so excited and spent as much time as she could in her room reading the books she had bought. She barely understood most of it but found it all very interesting. She was tempted on more than one occasion to try casting a spell from the books but remembered what Professor McGonagall had said about no magic at home with some disappointment.

The days went by very slowly for Emma, especially considering her insomnia was getting worse. A week after she had said goodbye to Hagrid her sleep had all but gone completely. The strange thing was that she was no longer tired all the time. Maybe it was all the excitement and trepidation, or that her body was getting used to being awake all the time, but whatever it was, the dark rings under her eyes had faded slightly. They were still there of course, but much less obvious. Emma was still eating less too. She had made a real effort to eat something at dinner times to keep Mrs Cole and the other staff off her back, but it always came straight back up again shortly after. The Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans were helping a little. She could eat one or two every so often but she was still losing weight slowly. She also found some of the the beans flavours very funny. Most didn't taste very nice, but on a number of occasions she had gotten ones that tasted truly vile, such as mud, cat food, and even soap. She knew they weren't made out of what they tasted like, or at least, she hoped they weren't, so she ate them anyway.

It was on the day before her trip to Hogwarts would commence that she picked a dark red bean out of the box and it tasted incredibly nice. This gave Emma a bit of a shock as nothing had tasted nice for months, so she tried to decide what it tasted like. At first she thought it had a coppery or metallic taste, which was unusual. It reminded her a little of water from the tap. It was sort of salty as well. It took her a few more moments and it finally hit her. The shock of it tasting so nice was nothing to the shock of realising what it was. Blood! It tasted like blood and she liked it! She spat out the bean impulsively and soon regretted it. Now she wanted the taste back, much to her own horror.

'I'm a vampire.' Emma said quietly to herself in disgust.

Emma tried to remember when she had ever tasted blood before, and remembered the few times she had cut herself, or bitten her lip too hard and remembered that she liked the taste. But this didn't necessarily mean she was a vampire.

' _Lots of people like the taste of blood._ ' she thought defensively. ' _But they don't have trouble sleeping and eating._ ' her mind retorted. ' _Hagrid knew!_ _I knew I should have asked him!'_ she thought.

'No!' she told herself in anger. 'Stop being silly.'

After having a little argument with herself, Emma decided that she would speak to Hagrid about it as soon as she could after arriving at Hogwarts. There was no sense in worrying about it now, instead she decided to be worried about whether or not she would miss the train, or whether she would be any good at magic.

Emma had checked the contents of her trunk so many times that night that she had lost count, but she was certain, more or less, that she had everything. By six o'clock in the morning, her excitement had been boiling inside her and was ready to burst at any moment. She wanted to set off the moment Mrs Cole woke up which wouldn't be until about seven o'clock. She spent the last hour getting ready. She wore a plain black short-sleeved dress that fell to her knees, and some simple black shoes. It all matched her hair and she thought it looked quite smart. The dress was the only item of clothing she owned that didn't show they were orphanage uniform so obviously. It was meant to be worn when they went on outings or holidays. She packed the rest of her clothes, which wasn't much, into the trunk. She thought, sadly, that the only things of hers that weren't packed was her bed and her wardrobe. The entirety of her life packed away in a small trunk.


	4. Chapter 4 - Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 4 – Hogwarts Express**

Emma dragged her trunk with some effort to the main entrance of the orphanage, set it down and sat on it. She didn't have to wait long until Mrs Cole came by.

'You're not going now, are you?' asked Mrs Cole stifling a yawn. 'When is your train?'

Emma knew Mrs Cole wouldn't let her leave now if she had said her train was eleven o'clock so she had to lie. She never liked lying, but she was desperate to leave, and desperate to see the magical world again. 'Eight o'clock, miss.'

'That early? I never realised. Well, we better get you a taxi sharpish then.'

Mrs Cole hurried to her office and phoned for a taxi and then they waited for it to arrive. Emma liked the black cabs, there was just something about them which made them special. The driver put Emma's trunk in the boot with a great deal of effort and she got in the back. When the driver got in, Mrs Cole went to his window.

'How much will it be to get to King's Cross Station?' she asked.

'Hmmm,' said the driver. 'bout ten pounds I should think.'

'Okay.' said Mrs Cole handing him a ten pound note. 'Emma has no money on her, so if it comes to more than ten pounds, she won't be able to give you any more.'

'No problem.' said the driver.

Mrs Cole nodded to the driver and then looked to Emma. 'Enjoy yourself now, and I'll make sure your room is free at the end of the school year.'

'Thank you, miss.'

'Well, you better go. Don't want to be late now, do you.' said Mrs Cole smiling.

Emma waved goodbye and the driver set off. She saw Mrs Cole walking back into the orphanage as they rounded the first corner.

For Emma the journey was surreal. There she was, travelling through the city of London, which she now knew to be filled with magic and secret places. Even with this knowledge, watching people go about their daily life, it all seemed so ordinary, and special. It was as if the journey itself was a goodbye gesture.

The driver spoke very little on the way, probably due to Emma's one word answers to everything he asked. She wasn't really paying attention to him, she was now worrying about Hogwarts again. The journey took just over fifteen minutes and the fare came to ten pounds and thirty pence, but as they had agreed the price before hand, the driver didn't mention it. He got her trunk out of the boot of the cab and let her take it.

'Good luck.' he said. 'See ya.'

'Thank you, sir. Bye'

Emma now made her way directly to platforms nine and ten. It was a surprisingly busy day, especially considering it was very early on a Sunday morning. Everyone was rushing about to get on their trains in time. She just saw the barrier in between the two platforms that Professor McGonagall had described. She hoped that it was busy enough for no-one to see her disappear through a wall. She walked up to the barrier and stood by it for a second, making sure no-one was looking. She then quickly jumped through it.

When Emma got to the other side, she couldn't believe her eyes. There was a scarlet steam engine there next to a platform that had very few people on it. She supposed this was because it was so early. If she was honest with herself she was surprised the train was even here this early.

There was now an archway where the barrier had been only moments before and above it was a sign that said _Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock_. Emma went toward the back of the train to find a compartment. She was about to get on but found that she just could not lift her trunk up through the door, it was far too heavy. Luckily a man who appeared to work on the train was passing by and helped her get the trunk on board. She thanked him and made her way to a compartment.

The time was now ten minutes to eight in the morning so Emma had three hours to kill. She decided it would be best if she changed into her robes before more people started arriving. She also decided, grudgingly, to put her wand in the inside breast pocket of her robe, just in case she needed it. Emma put her trunk underneath the seats and picked out a book she hadn't read yet. She sat with her knees up to her chin and her feet on the seats in the corner next to the door in such a way that someone looking in wouldn't see her.

About two and a half hours had passed since Emma started reading the book and the platform had filled up quite considerably. She looked out of the window in curiosity and noticed a rather large family all with flaming-red hair. Emma thought about sitting by the window to people watch, like she had done in The Leaky Cauldron, but was interrupted from that chain of thought when a boy, another first year by the looks of it, walked in to the compartment. This boy had dark, messy hair. He set his things down and sat in the opposite corner from Emma, by the window. Emma watched him as he looked out of the window, at the family with red hair. This boy seemed not to have noticed Emma at all. It wasn't until the boy suddenly hid behind the frame of the window, obviously not wanting to be seen spying, that he saw her and jumped out of his skin.

'Sorry,' he said, breathing heavily, still recovering from his shock. 'I didn't think anyone was in here.'

'No problem.' replied Emma, giggling. The boy blushed in embarrassment.

Emma went back to reading her book and the boy looked out of the window again.

It wasn't long before the train started moving and Emma realised with excitement that she was actually going, after all this waiting, to a magical school. She had no idea what to expect, and that thought scared her a little. Her thoughts were interrupted again when another boy entered the compartment. This boy was one of the red haired family.

'Anyone sitting there?' he asked, pointing at the seat opposite the dark-haired boy. 'Everywhere else is full.'

The dark-haired boy shook his head and the red-haired one sat down. The two boys appeared to have met before. They started talking together and Emma discovered that the red haired boy was called Ron Weasley and the dark-haired boy was called Harry Potter. Emma, not wanting to eavesdrop, kept reading her book. She liked it when people weren't paying any attention to her because it was more peaceful that way.

There were fields outside the window now and Emma was quite content. That was until two things happened. Firstly, there was a loud clattering sound outside the compartment which distracted Emma, Ron and Harry, and secondly, Ron noticed Emma for the first time since he entered the compartment which was over one and a half hours ago. His shock paled Harry's earlier embarrassment spectacularly. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Harry also seemed a bit taken aback. Maybe he had forgotten Emma was there.

The clattering stopped and the door opened. The sound was caused by a small refreshments trolley being pushed by a smiling, dimpled woman. The smell of the food trolley made Emma feel suddenly sick. She really couldn't stomach food any more.

'Anything off the trolley, dears?' she asked the two boys.

Harry leapt up and spent a few moments buying a lot of sweets and then the lady left them.

'Hungry, are you?' asked Ron.

'Starving.' said Harry.

'If you want sweets.' said Emma, making Ron twitch nervously. 'Have these.'

Emma leaned down and got the second box of Bertie Botts Every-Flavour Beans from her trunk that she hadn't opened yet and threw them to Ron. 'I had two boxes, but one from the previous box put me off completely.'

'Thanks.' said Ron with a little suspicion. After he opened the box and found that Emma hadn't tampered with it, he became much less nervous of her.

'No problem. And I'm sorry for startling you both earlier.' she said, trying hard not to giggle.

'That's alright.' said Harry. 'What's your name?'

'Emma Pearson, and you're Harry, and you're Ron, right?' she asked, looking at each of them in turn.

'Yeah' they both said.

The three of them got talking about their families, where they lived, how much magic they knew and so on. Emma was quite happy that Harry seemed to know as little as she did. She was also very sympathetic with Harry when he had said he lived with his aunt and uncle because his parents had died. After Emma had said that she was an orphan who knew nothing about her parents and that she knew no magic at all, besides what she had read from some of the books in her trunk, the other two went quiet, although Harry did give her a sympathetic look.

The two boys continued talking about food. Emma had no interest in this and kept refusing them, politely, when they tried offering her sweets. She went back to reading her book in the hope that they would stop trying to give her food. The smell in the cabin was bad enough.

There was a knock on the door some time later and a tearful, round-faced boy walked in.

'Sorry,' he said, 'but have you seen a toad at all?'

Harry and Ron shook their heads and the boy left, wailing.

Emma had just got back into her book when the door opened again. It was the round-faced boy again but this time he had a girl with him. The girl, like Emma, was already wearing her school robes.

'Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one.' she said. Her voice was quite bossy, and her hair was bushy and brown.

Emma pretended to go back to her book but listened to what was going on. The girl seemed very interested in Ron, who was about to cast a spell on his rat, Scabbers. Emma lowered her book to watch too.

'Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.' chanted Ron.

Nothing happened.

'Are you sure that's a real spell?' said the girl. 'Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school for witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?'

She said all this very fast.

Harry and Ron were quite stunned by this and Emma presumed neither of them had learnt their books off by heart either. She hadn't even finished any of hers.

'Emma Pearson' said Emma, while the boys were collecting themselves.

Hermione jumped a little, having not noticed Emma either. She took one look at Emma and was obviously happy to see someone else already in their robes, and unashamedly reading a book. It was when Ron and Harry introduced themselves that Hermione's attention went back to the boys. She then went on another speed-talk about Harry being in books, and school houses. Emma, feeling a little stupid, didn't know what school houses meant.

Hermione said goodbye, more to Emma than the boys, and then she left, taking the round-faced boy with her.

Harry and Ron started talking again and Emma picked a few bits of information out, like one of Ron's brothers works with dragons, and someone tried to rob the wizard bank, Gringotts. The subject then changed to Quidditch, which seemed to be a wizard sport, so Emma had no interest in listening to that, and instead looked out of the window and watched the fields, lanes and small towns that flew by.

A short while later the door opened yet again, and three boys stepped in. The middle boy was being flanked by the other two, who were much bigger. Emma knew the second she saw them that this would be trouble so she stayed silent, still, and apparently, invisible.

The conversation between Harry, Ron and the three boys, started out civil enough. The middle boy introduced himself as Draco Malfoy, and the other two as Crabbe and Goyle. The civilities didn't last long though and took a turn for the worse when something Draco Malfoy said offended Ron and Harry. Emma thought this might happen. They had taken the bait and a fight was bound to happen. She'd seen it so many times at the orphanage.

One of the thick, brutish boys, Emma didn't know which one, went to grab a chocolate frog from the seat and Ron went to charge at him, but before Ron even raised a finger, the boy let out a horrible yell.

Scabbers had bitten the boy right on the end of his finger and was holding on for dear life as the boy flailed his arms about trying to get the rat off. Scabbers finally let go and the three boys ran out of the room.

It was at the moment where the boy who was bitten ran out of the room that Emma smelt it. She knew what it was immediately. Blood. She found the smell irresistible and hated that she should think so. She had to hold her breath for a few moments to clear her head. Luckily, Ron and Harry didn't see her reaction to it as they'd left the compartment in pursuit and bumped into Hermione.

Emma heard Hermione tell the boys that they should change into their robes and when they came in, she looked away so that they could do so. Once they had changed, Harry pointed out of the window. It had gone dark and there were mountains and forests under the deep-purple sky.

Just then, a disembodied voice ran through the train: 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.'

' _This is it_ ', thought Emma. All three of them looked at each other. The other two had turned very pale and Emma supposed she had done too. She was glad to see they were as nervous as she was. She put her book back into her trunk as the boys were gathering up their precious sweets and then they all went out into the now-crowded corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Emma noticed Harry and Ron shiver as they went out into the cold, but Emma didn't really notice it herself. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Emma heard a familiar voice: 'Firs' years! Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry? Emma?'

Emma and Harry looked at each other confusedly but were quickly distracted. Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

'C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!'

Emma followed Harry and Ron as they slipped and stumbled behind Hagrid down a steep and narrow path. It was very dark and Emma thought they must be in a forest as she thought she could just make out trees on either side of them.

'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.'


	5. Chapter 5 - The Sorting Hat

**Chapter 5 – The Sorting Hat**

Emma was among the first to see it and couldn't help but let out a quiet 'Oooooh!'.

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. There, sat at the top of a high mountain on the other side, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers, it's windows sparkling in the starry sky.

'No more'n four to a boat!' Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Emma, Ron, Harry and, a little to Ron's disappointment, Hermione, entered a boat.

'Everyone in?' shouted Hagrid, who had a boat all to himself, 'Right then – FORWARD!'

Emma barely noticed all of the boats setting off together. She was in complete awe of the glass-smooth lake, the partially-silhouetted castle and it's tiny yellow windows.

'Heads down!' yelled Hagrid as Emma's boat reached the cliff; she bent her head down, as did the others and the little boat carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They kept going down a dark tunnel, which seemed to lead directly under the castle. Eventually they reached an underground harbour, of sorts, where everyone climbed out of their boats.

Hagrid then led them all up a passageway in the rock using his lamp as a guide until they came out onto smooth, damp grass right near the castle. Everyone walked up the flight of stone steps and crowded around Hagrid at the foot of the huge, oak front door.

'Everyone here?' Hagrid asked. He then raised one of his huge fists and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. Emma was surprised to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway. This time she was wearing emerald-green robes which suited her much better than the business clothes she wore when they first met. Her face was as stern as ever, but Emma was happy to see her again.

'The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall,' said Hagrid.

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.'

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was vast, with flaming torches hanging on the walls. Emma could barely make out the ceiling far away above them. Ahead of them lay a beautiful marble staircase that led up into the upper levels of the castle.

Professor McGonagall led them across the flagged stone floor into an empty chamber off the entrance hall. The room was small and everyone squeezed in as best they could.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' said Professor McGonagall. 'The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

'The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.'

'The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.'

She eyed a few of the students in particular.

'I shall return when we are ready for you,' she said. 'Please wait quietly.'

She left the chamber and the nervous whispering started immediately. Most were wondering how the sorting works. There was some talk of fighting trolls or casting complicated spells. Emma tried to keep calm, after all, she wasn't the only one who was from a non-magical background, the school couldn't expect much from her so early.

Emma was just looking around the room to see what others were doing when about twenty glowing, white ghosts glided through the wall where she was looking. There were a few screams, followed by gasps from those around her. The ghosts seemed to be arguing about someone called Peeves until one of them noticed all of the first years below them.

'I say, what are you all doing here?' said a ghost wearing a ruff.

'New students!' replied a rather fat ghost smiling. 'About to be sorted, I suppose?'

Emma nodded, as did some others.

'Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!' said the fat ghost. 'My old house, you know.'

It was at that moment that Professor McGonagall came in and said 'The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin. Now, form a line.'

A few of the student's looked like they were going to be sick, but they all lined up and followed her into the Great Hall.

Emma followed closely behind Ron and Harry again and hoped she wouldn't be the first to be picked. At least if she wasn't first, she'd know what to expect.

Emma gasped in amazement as they walked into the Great Hall. It was huge. The ceiling looked like it wasn't even there. In it's place Emma could see stars and clouds. There were also thousands of candles floating above four long tables that the other students were already sitting at. They were all watching the first-years walk in single file. The room set up reminded her a lot of the orphanage dining room as there was another table at the far end of the hall, which they were heading to, that appeared to be where the teacher's ate. Every table was covered in golden plates, goblets and cutlery. ' _Banquet_ ', Emma remembered, feeling suddenly ill at the thought of so much food. The first-years finally got to the teacher's table and were lined up in front of it, facing the four student tables. The mass of faces staring at them was unnerving.

Professor McGonagall placed a small stool just in front of the first years. On top of the stool was a decrepit, pointy wizard hat. Emma was just wondering what it was for when the hat suddenly ripped open at the brim like a mouth and started singing.

'Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head,

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!'

The whole Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four house tables and then became still again.

To Emma that didn't seem so bad. A mind reading hat which picked your house based on your personality. She wasn't too fond of the mind reading part, but at least she didn't have to cast any spells.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long scroll with a list of names on.

'When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.'

She called many names out and Emma watched as each person put on the hat and walked to their respective house. The hat seemed to decide very quickly for some people, and quite slowly for others. Emma was paying attention to the names and they were obviously going in alphabetical order of surname. Hermione Granger was called, followed by 'Longbottom', 'Malfoy', 'Moon', 'Nott' and 'Parkinson'.

Emma had been looking around at each house individually when they'd gotten a new member and she had decided that she would be happy going into any house, except Slytherin. Their cheers seemed at first to be as friendly as all the others, but she couldn't help the bad feeling she got when she looked at them. Maybe it was the disdain they showed to the ones not sorted into Slytherin, or maybe it was just that Malfoy had been sorted there.

Emma became very nervous when two twins called 'Patil' were called, she was going to be next.

'Pearson, Emma!' called Professor McGonagall.

Emma stepped forward nervously, picked up the hat and sat down, placing the hat on her head as she did so. It went down past her eyes and everything went black.

'Hmm, what do we have here?' said a voice in her ear. 'Close choice, yes, very close indeed. Courageous and intelligent I see, but also very cunning and determined. So, what'll it be? Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin? Hmm.'

' _Please don't put me in Slytherin, Mr Hat._ ' thought Emma. ' _I'm not evil._ '

'Not evil?' replied the Hat with a mocking sneer. 'So says the vampire! Very well, have it your way – GRYFFINDOR!'

Emma heard the hat shout the house name to the entire hall. She took the hat off, placed it back on the stool and walked slowly toward the table full of cheering students in a complete state of shock. She didn't even notice what house she was put in. The hat had just called her a vampire. Emma didn't know if it had said that just because it was her fear that she might be a vampire, or whether it was actually true. There certainly seemed to be a lot of evidence to suggest she was. In her shock she barely noticed the Gryffindor students patting her on the back, or a prefect, who turned out to be another Weasley, held out his hand to shake hers. She didn't shake his hand, she just slumped in her chair.

'You alright?' asked a girls voice beside her.

Emma looked and it turned out to be Hermione.

'Yeah... just... overwhelmed.' she said truthfully.

Hermione nodded in agreement.

'Yes, it can be quite an experience.' said the prefect pompously, sitting back down. Happy with Emma's excuse for ignoring him.

Harry Potter was just about to be sorted and Emma turned to watch but caught Hagrid's eye behind the remaining first-years, he was smiling at her and gave her a thumbs up. She couldn't smile back. She was still taken aback by what the hat had said. Instead she mouthed, 'We need to talk.' to Hagrid. He nodded looking suddenly a bit awkward. They were then interrupted by Harry being announced as a Gryffindor too, and he came and sat next to Emma. Hagrid also beamed at Harry with two big thumbs up. How did Harry know Hagrid? Had Hagrid helped Harry home too? A question for another time, Emma thought.

The rest of the sorting, even Ron's, was just a blur to Emma until Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, got up to speak.

'Welcome!' he said. 'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!'

He sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered and many people laughed. They soon stopped though, as every table had suddenly filled with food. Everything looked so sickly and filling, Emma thought. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire puddings, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and mint humbugs.

Everyone around her started to dig in and pick what they wanted but Emma just sat where she was. She looked up at the ceiling to try to stop herself from feeling nauseous, though it wasn't really helping with the sound of everyone around her scoffing their faces and talking with their mouths full.

'Not having anything, Emma?' asked Percy Weasley, the prefect.

'No... thank you.' replied Emma, weakly.

'Are you sure you're alright?' asked Hermione, looking a little worried. 'You're as pale as a ghost.'

'I'm fine.' she lied.

'Why aren't you eating?' asked Harry, also looking concerned. 'At least have a drink.'

If Emma didn't say something they'd all be fussing her until she'd eaten something, and she really didn't think her stomach could take it.

'I... can't eat with other people around.' lied Emma, looking down, feigning embarrassment.

'Are you mad?' laughed Ron, snorting as he took a mouthful of his drink.

'Why not?' asked Hermione, glaring at Ron.

'Some kids at the orphanage used to bully me about the way I eat.' she lied again. Lying felt a bit too easy, she thought, guiltily. Maybe the Sorting Hat should have put her in Slytherin after all.

'That does look good though.' interrupted the ghost in the ruff, with a sad expression on his face, as if Emma's pretend phobia wasn't a very good excuse.

'Can't you -?' asked Harry.

This was a good line of discussion thought Emma, it was drawing them away from her.

'I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years,' said the ghost. 'I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.'

Ron blurted out, 'I know who you are! My brothers told me about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!'

'I would _prefer_ you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -' the ghost began stiffly.

' _Nearly_ Headless?' asked a sandy-haired boy called Seamus Finnigan. 'How can you be _nearly_ headless?'

Sir Nicholas looked extremely put-out that the conversation wasn't going his way.

'Like _this_ ,' he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it were on a hinge. Obviously the result of a poor beheading, thought Emma. Pleased with the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on properly and said, 'So – new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have gotten the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost.'

Emma didn't pay much attention to the rest of the conversation. She looked up at the ceiling again and marvelled at it. It was as if the ceiling was there, but also not there. She remembered Hermione commenting on it earlier, saying that it was bewitched to look like the sky. The contrast of the night sky, and the floating candles made the room look quite eerie, but wondrous at the same time.

Another conversation caught Emma's attention again, this time it was Hermione and Percy Weasley talking about lessons.

'I _do_ hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course it's supposed to be very difficult.' said Hermione, talking fast again.

'You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing.' replied Percy.

'Professor McGonagall teaches that doesn't she?' added Emma.

'Yes, that's right.' said Percy. 'She's quite strict, but she's very good. Can turn herself into a cat, don't you know.'

The conversation was stopped short again, this time by Harry who looked like he'd just been slapped.

'Ouch!' said Harry, clapping his hand to his forehead.

'What is it?' asked Percy.

'N-nothing.' stuttered Harry. 'Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?'

'Oh, you know Quirrel already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's after Quirrel's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape.'

Emma remembered what Hagrid had said about Professor Snape, ' _Professor Snape's an ass though_ '. Now that she saw him, he certainly didn't look very friendly.

At last, the food disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.

'Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.'

'First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.'

'I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.'

'Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.'

'And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.'

Emma laughed at this, as did Harry, but they were among the few who did. Emma heard Harry and Percy whispering, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

'And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!' cried Dumbledore.

He gave his wand a little flick and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself into words.

'Everyone pick their favourite tune,' said Dumbledore, 'and off we go!'

Emma joined in, quite happily with most of the Hall, although some people were obviously singing different songs. Some, the Weasley twins in particular, sang very long and slow songs, and eventually when they had all finished, the whole room shook with applause.

'Ah, music,' said Dumbledore, wiping his eyes. 'A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!'

The Gryffindor first-years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the pristine marble staircase. Emma seemed to be the only one besides Percy, and maybe Hermione, that were as wide awake as ever. Everyone else, Ron in particular, seemed to be very lethargic. Emma watched as they passed portrait after portrait and was quite surprised to see the people in them move as if they were alive. What Emma had become most interested in, however, was the route Percy was taking them to the dormitories from the Great Hall. They had passed through a number of what appeared to be secret passageways. One was hidden behind a sliding panel in the wall and another behind a hanging tapestry. Emma wondered how many secret passageways there were. Ever the explorer, she decided there and then that she'd try to find as many as she could during her stay here.

At one point Percy suddenly stopped. There was a bundle of walking sticks floating in mid-air ahead of them and as Percy took a step towards them, they started throwing themselves at him.

'Peeves,' Percy whispered. 'A poltergeist.' He raised his voice, 'Peeves – show yourself.'

There was an answering, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon.

'Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?'

There was a small _pop_ and a little man with dark, wicked eyes appeared floating cross legged in the air, holding the walking sticks.

'Oooooooh!' he said, with an evil cackle. 'Ickle firsties! What fun!'

He suddenly swooped down and everyone ducked.

'Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!' barked Percy.

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. He flew away rattling suits of armour as he went.

'You want to watch out for Peeves,' said Percy, as they set off again. 'The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us Prefects. Here we are.'

They now stood in front of a large portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

'Password?' she asked.

'Caput Draconis,' said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room. It was cosy and filled with squashy armchairs and cushions.

Percy directed Emma and the other girls through one door to their dormitory, and the boys through another door. At the top of a spiral staircase they found their beds. There were five four-poster beds, hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up and Emma's was sitting at the foot of the bed nearest the door. Hermione's was next to Emma's, and the other three were taken by Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Fay Dunbar. Emma grabbed the book she had been reading on the train out of her trunk and laid on her bed. The others got into their pyjamas, said goodnight and shut the curtains on each of their beds. ' _Finally_.' thought Emma, now able to get a few hours to herself.


	6. Chapter 6 - Lessons Anew

**Chapter 6 – Lessons Anew**

Emma hadn't closed the curtains on her bed since she was now incapable of sleeping. Instead she moved quietly to one of the tall, thin windows between each bed and looked out over the grounds. Hogwarts was vast and Emma could see the mountains and the forest from her point in the tower. She wanted something to distract her from her thoughts, and wondered if searching the castle for secrets would help. She supposed it would, but remembered that wandering the castle after hours is forbidden.

It wouldn't do to get in trouble on her first night at school. That would set a bad precedent. Instead, Emma decided she would explore what little she could of the castle, the Gryffindor Tower. She quietly left the room, glad her bed was nearest the door, and sneaked down the spiral staircase. Emma supposed that every dormitory would look alike so she skipped the other rooms and went into the common room.

This room was much nicer than she remembered it being the first time. It was circular and filled with tables and comfy chairs. It was coloured just like the dormitories in the Gryffindor colours of red and gold. There was a big fireplace on one side that had all but burnt out, a few smouldering embers remained and on the opposite side were two doors leading to the boys and girls bathrooms. After having a good look around, Emma sat down in a chair near the fireplace and stared at the glowing coals.

What the Sorting Hat had said was sinking in and Emma had begun to resign herself to admitting that she was a vampire. She didn't know how it could be possible. She'd never been bitten, at least, not that she remembered. She had even checked her body for scars in the mirror while at the orphanage and hadn't found anything. She certainly found the smell and taste of blood irresistible. She'd never forget those memories so soon. She also never slept any more. That must be indicative of something.

Emma got up in a fit of irritation and started pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. She was starting to feel caged again, something that happened regularly at the orphanage whenever something was bothering her. After a minute or two, she stopped pacing and went straight to the portrait hole. She was going to explore whether she got in trouble or not. She could always make up an excuse if she got caught. Emma was careful not to wake the fat lady as she opened the portrait.

Emma thought it would be best to make sure she remembered the way back to the Great Hall. So she left the way she had come following Percy. That wasn't to say she didn't take a few detours along the way. On the way down from the seventh floor where the Gryffindor entrance was, she had discovered many rooms. A boys lavatory on the sixth floor, the library on the fourth floor and the out-of-bounds-unless-you-want-a-painful-death corridor on the third floor. She also found an out of order girls lavatory and a strange corridor that led to a Gargoyle on the second floor. It was half past six when she eventually made it to the grand staircase near the Great Hall, just as a couple of other students were making their way down to breakfast.

Emma went into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table.

'You're very early, Miss Pearson.' said Professor McGonagall, who was carrying a small pile of parchment.

'Couldn't sleep, Professor.' replied Emma.

'Well, I do hope you are rested enough. Classes will be starting today. Here is your timetable.'

Emma took the parchment and said 'Thank you.'

On the timetable there was Herbology, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Astronomy. There definitely seemed to be a lot more to magic than just waving a wand around.

Emma found Astronomy very interesting. They studied the stars and planets, their names and their movements across the sky. She found it funny, in a way, that she seemed to be the only one awake enough to pay attention during those lessons. Even Hermione nodded off once or twice.

There was also Herbology three times a week with a small witch called Professor Sprout. The greenhouses were behind the castle and there they learnt about magical plants and fungi.

History of Magic was one of those incredibly boring lessons where the teacher droned on and on. This teacher was called Professor Binns and also happened to be a ghost. If Emma had any chance of sleeping ever again, it would be by sitting in this lesson.

They had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She seemed to be the only teacher so far to control the class with little effort. She began the lesson by putting everyone in their place.

'Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magics you will learn at Hogwarts,' she said. 'Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.'

She then turned her desk into a pig. Emma couldn't help but like and respect Professor McGonagall. She also liked Professor Flitwick, who taught Charms. He was a very small wizard who had to stand on a pile of books so that he could see over his desk. He was quite a twitchy person too. When he was calling out the register at the beginning of the first lesson, he fell off his pile of books after reading out Harry Potter's name.

That was something else to get used to. Emma knew Harry Potter was famous. He was stared at and followed wherever he went, but Emma still didn't know why. She knew he was in some books, and knew that the scar on his forehead had something to do with it, but that was about all she knew. It wasn't her business so she never inquired.

Emma was sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast on the Wednesday morning, the third day of classes. She had noticed the night before that her weight loss was getting much worse. She had been losing weight steadily over the summer, but now that she was at school, she was losing it far more rapidly. It didn't help that her stomach was in constant pain as it was so empty. She wanted to speak to Hagrid about it, but just like the first and second mornings, he wasn't at the teachers table. Emma selfishly thought he was avoiding her.

Harry and Ron had just come down when the post arrived. It was quite a shock on the first morning when hundreds upon hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall carrying post, swooping around looking for people and dropping their post into their laps.

Emma jumped a little when a fifth-years post landed near her when an extremely beautiful snowy owl landed next to Harry that Emma hadn't seen before. A thought occurred to Emma while she offered the owl some ham.

'Harry?' asked Emma.

'Yeah?' he replied, still sleepy.

'Is this your owl?'

'Yep.' said Harry smiling. 'Her name is Hedwig.'

'If you don't mind, would she be able to send a letter for me?'

'Sure, go ahead. If she'll let you.'

'Thank you.' said Emma. 'You don't mind do you Hedwig?'

Hedwig gave Emma a little nip on the finger as if to say she didn't mind.

Emma wrote a letter quickly, making sure no-one could read it.

 _Dear Hagrid,_

 _I need to speak to you. I'm withering away here. I know you know what's wrong with me. Please see me, as soon as possible._

 _Emma Pearson._

Emma rolled up the parchment, tied it up and gave it to Hedwig. 'Please send that to Hagrid.' she whispered so the others wouldn't hear. Hedwig hopped over to Harry and nipped his ear to say goodbye and then flew out of the Great Hall. Hagrid wasn't going to be able to pretend he didn't get that.

Emma continued exploring the castle as long as she thought she could get away with it. She left her dormitory at five o'clock every morning to explore, hopeful that if she got caught she could simply say she couldn't sleep and was headed to breakfast early. She had luckily still not been caught though. By now she knew most of the upper floors, but was still a little unwilling to explore the lower floors and dungeons for risk of getting caught.

The lessons were going well and happily she was getting a lot of homework. This meant that she could use her insomnia to great potential. Like Hermione, Emma enjoyed working. Hermione was far more intelligent of course, but they seemed to be on the same wavelength most of the time. While Hermione was a know-it-all, and showed that fact off at every opportunity by answering every question a teacher asked in class, Emma preferred to keep it hidden. She never did like drawing attention to herself.

Although Emma still couldn't really say she had made any friends, she was definitely closest to Hermione, and they sat next to each other during nearly every class. She was even a little friendly with Harry. She didn't know what to make of Ron though. He seemed to dislike Hermione and was sometimes a little rude and obnoxious and he never seemed to stop eating. He seemed pleasant enough to Emma though, most of the time.

Thursday morning Emma sneaked out early again to roam the castle. By now she knew exactly where all her lessons were and she'd discovered a number of secret passageways. Some were easy to find, and others, much less so. There was one with a vanishing step on it that you had to remember to skip, there were some doors that only opened if you spoke nicely, or tickled them. There were some walls that were pretending to be doors. There were also some stairs and doors that moved depending on the time of day. Emma thought the castle had a life of its own.

By ten passed six, Emma was just making her way into the Great Hall. She was the only student there. She decided to wait there in case Hagrid replied to her letter. As there was nothing else to do, she decided to finish off her Astronomy homework from the night before. The hall slowly filled with people, and before she had finished her work, Hermione arrived.

'Morning, Hermione.' said Emma.

'Morning.' replied Hermione, groggily. 'Why are you always here so early?'

'I try to get here before anyone else so I can get something to eat.' lied Emma.

'Really?' said Hermione, giving Emma a sideways glance. 'You don't look like you've eaten anything in days. Are you feeling alright?'

'Yeah, I'm alright.'

Emma tried to change the subject before Hermione could say anything else.

'So, how did you find the Herbology homework?'

Hermione looked suspicious at the subject change for a second, but quickly went into her typical fast talking mode. Emma already knew that Hermione could always be counted on to talk about work.

When the post arrived Emma was looking expectantly around for an owl that was going to drop her reply from Hagrid. Hermione who was eating breakfast and doing some homework looked curious, but didn't ask. Eventually an owl swooped down and landed right into Emma's empty plate with a letter for her from Hagrid. His writing was very untidy and Emma could barely read it.

 _Dear Emma,_

 _You have Friday afternoons off. Come see me then if you still want to. Send a reply with this owl._

 _Hagrid._

Emma was happy to hear that Hagrid was willing to talk, but not so happy that it would have to be tomorrow afternoon. She didn't think she could cope that long. Either way, she quickly wrote on a piece of parchment, 'See you then.' and gave it back to the owl.

That day Emma had a subject that most people had been waiting for. Defence Against the Dark Arts. This year it was on the first floor as the third floor corridor was out of bounds. As Emma and Hermione were nearing the classroom, Emma was assaulted by an incredibly disgusting smell. It was one of those strange smells that seemed to seep right into her brain and give her a headache. It made it difficult for her to breath and she felt really dizzy, nearly falling over.

'What _is_ that smell?' asked Emma, painfully, clutching her forehead with her hand.

'Garlic, I think.' sniffed Hermione, helping Emma balance herself.

She was right. The whole room was filled with the smell of garlic. It turned out that Professor Quirrel was very afraid of a Romanian vampire that he thought was coming to get him and the garlic was supposed to repel vampires. Emma thought to herself mockingly that if she didn't have to be here, she certainly wouldn't be. Her head felt like it was going to split in two, and even breathing through her mouth didn't help. She wasn't sure she could put up with an hour of this, let alone a year.

Not that Emma noticed, but the lesson itself wasn't much better. Professor Quirrel was afraid of everything, even his own shadow, so he never really taught them anything.

The rest of that day went very slowly for Emma. She handed in the homework she had been given, and received some more to work on. By the next morning she had finished all of her homework simply as a distraction to make the time pass faster. She was desperate to meet with Hagrid, especially as she could hardly stand up straight due to the pain in her stomach and now only double potions stood in her way.

Emma knew to expect bad things from Professor Snape but wasn't quite prepared for just how bad. The first lesson was spent with Snape dictating things, picking on Harry and deducting a point from Gryffindor when Harry answered back. They spent the next lesson making a potion to cure boils, which ended in catastrophe when Neville's potion exploded and just because Harry was nearby, Snape had deducted another point from Gryffindor.

Before the bell had rung for the end of lesson Emma was already packing her things as fast as she could without being noticed and when the bell finally rang, she ran out of the class at full pelt. It didn't take her long to get to Hagrid's. When she had finally gotten to Hagrid's hut, gasping for breath, she knocked on the door a few times.

There was the sound of quick scratching on the door and then Hagrid's voice. 'Fang! Get _back!_ '

He opened the door slightly and he saw that it was Emma.

'Hang on a moment,' he said. 'Backoff Fang!'

Hagrid appeared properly now, his face as wild and hairy as ever, as he opened the door. He was holding the collar on a huge black boar-hound.

'Have a seat, make yerself at home.' he said as he closed the door, and let go of Fang, who promptly ran up to Emma, knocking her over into one of Hagrid's massive chairs and started licking her face.

'Calm down, Fang.' she said fussing him so that he stopped trying to lick her.

'Yer good with animals I see.' said Hagrid, beaming.

'He just wants some fuss, that's all.'

'Not just fang. I hear Hedwig took a shine to yeh too.'

'Well, Hedwig is really pretty!'

'Aye, that she is!' said Hagrid.

Emma was a little impatient to talk about her _condition_ but Hagrid seemed to not want to.

'How was yeh first week then?' he asked kindly. 'Would you like a rock cake?'

Emma stared at Hagrid unbelieving.

'Hagrid!' she shouted, starting to cry, 'I'm a vampire! I can't eat!'

'Yeah... sorry.' he said, looking very awkward. 'I thought yer might be.'

'How did you know?'

'Thought yeh were, soon as I saw yeh.' he looked serious now. 'Was yeh teeth and eyes what gave it away. I couldn't be sure yeh were o'course, that's why I said nothin', see.'

'But what do I do? Look at me, I weigh half what I did last time you saw me.' she said, crying even more. 'What do I eat? I mean, I can't exactly go around biting people, can I?'

'Not unless yeh wanna be expelled, and most likely put down by the Ministry of Magic fer bein' a dangerous magical being.'

'Put down?' she asked, hysterically.

'The Ministry of Magic don't take kindly to half-breeds. You an' me, we're half-breeds see. I'm half giant, as I'm sure yeh guessed. And you're a vampire. So you attack anyone, they won' hesitate to execute yeh.'

'Great.' Emma sobbed. 'So what do I do? If I don't eat something soon, I'll die anyway.'

'Likely as not yeh thirst'll get yeh first. Would only take a cut finger and that'd be that. Yeh'd have no control.'

'That almost happened on the train.'

Emma couldn't help but remember that smell, how nice it was and now that it was in her head, she couldn't get it out. She could feel herself unconsciously shift in her chair, her eyes looking around and nose sniffing the air, but she wasn't doing it. She was losing control.

'Emma? Can you hear me?' asked Hagrid, leaning forward. He put his hands on either side of her head and held her still, forcing her to look at him. Thankfully this was enough to bring her to her senses.

'Sorry... I...' she whimpered.

'We better do somethin', soon, or this'll only get worse.' said Hagrid. 'I'll tell Dumbledore, he'll know what to do.'

Emma shook her head violently. 'No! I don't want to be expelled!'

'Don' worry. Dumbledore's a great man. He'll sort it out. You'll see.'

At that moment there was a knock at the door which made both Hagrid and Emma jump.

'That'll be Harry.' said Hagrid, smiling. 'Don' worry, leave it with me. It'll be alright.'

Emma, still distraught, with red eyes, got up and went to the door. Hagrid had to stop Fang trying to scratch the door down again. 'Hang on. _Back_ , Fang!'

Hagrid opened the door to let Emma out. Like Hagrid said, it was Harry, but Ron was with him.

'Hi Harry, Hi Ron.' said Emma quietly without looking at either of them before she ran up to the castle.

Emma didn't stop until she got to her bed and closed the curtains, not even bothering to change. She was still crying now, but silently. She had so much to think about. The possibility that she may soon be expelled and worst of all, the knowledge that she may attack someone if they so much as cut their finger. How lucky was it that she hadn't followed and attacked Malfoy's goon after the incident on the train? And how can anyone consider Hagrid to be a lesser-person, simply because he's half giant.

It was after the others had gone to bed that she decided to start on some homework. She opened her trunk to pick out the Potions homework but was surprised to see a white, opaque, ceramic bottle that wasn't hers. She went to pick it up and saw there was a note attached. The writing was in a very clear and elegant script.

 _Dear Miss Pearson,_

 _Open with no-one present._

 _See me in my office tomorrow morning. Tell the gargoyle on the second floor what sweet was on the table during the feast._

 _Professor Dumbledore._

Emma read the letter through a few times. Dumbledore wanted to see her. She thought, with sadness, that he must be going to expel her. The sweet name must be a password for the gargoyle. Why would he tell her if she wasn't being expelled? She couldn't remember what they were though. She'd have to ask Ron, he'd probably remember it since it was food.

As for the bottle, the letter said to open it when no-one was present. Emma supposed that counted the four others in the room, even if they were fast asleep. She took the bottle with her to the common room. There was nobody else there, they were all asleep in their dormitories.

Emma sat down and opened the bottle. For a split second she could tell there was a liquid inside. A deep-red liquid. A split second was all she had, because a moment later she could smell the liquid. It was just like before, in Hagrid's hut, only much worse. She had absolutely no control what so ever.

The liquid was cold and she shivered as it chilled her insides, but she drank the entire bottle in one go, not spilling a single drop. After she had finished and finally regained her self control some twenty minutes later, she shakily set the bottle on the desk and closed it. She was still shivering, not from the cold now but from the feeling in her body, like adrenaline only subtler. She was starting to feel more awake, stronger, and the pain in her stomach was fading quickly. She went to look in the mirror and her face had already gotten some colour back. Her eyes also seemed to be a slightly brighter green than usual. She now looked and felt much healthier and since she didn't want to think about the empty bottle of blood beside her, she went up to her room and swapped the bottle for her Potions homework. Even if she was going to be expelled, it was something to do to pass the time. She was still working as people were getting up to go to breakfast. She thought, even with all this extra time, it still didn't make the work any easier, not that it mattered now she was going to be leaving today.

Breakfast had finished and it was a warm Saturday morning so most people were lounging around in the common room, or out in the grounds. Emma, however, had just finished her Potions homework and now had the dreadful task of seeing the headmaster. She still hadn't remembered the sweet that was there for the feast. Harry and Ron were nearby, having just come up from breakfast, so she walked up to them.

'Do either of you remember the sweet that was at the feast on the first day?'

'Not sure.' said Ron looking bemused.

'Mint Humbugs, wasn't it?' said Harry.

'Yes, that was it, thank you.'

'Why do you ask?' asked Harry with curiosity.

Emma just shrugged and made her way to the portrait hole. She could have sworn she'd heard Ron call her mental. Once she was out of the portrait hole she made her way to the gargoyle on the second floor taking the longest route she knew, trailing her feet as she went, trying to delay the inevitable.


	7. Chapter 7 - Great man, Dumbledore

**Chapter 7 – Great man, Dumbledore**

Emma approached the menacing looking gargoyle slowly until it towered over her. She uttered the words 'Mint Humbug' awkwardly and the gargoyle stepped aside revealing a hidden spiral staircase. Emma climbed the staircase and eventually reached a set of large oaken double doors. She was about to knock when she heard a voice from the other side.

'Come in.'

Emma opened the doors and was instantly taken aback by the room she found herself in. The headmaster's office was a large and circular room, full of weird little noises. A number of silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and spitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, and all of them were watching Emma warily. There was an enormous claw-footed desk covered in books and parchment behind which was the most beautiful bird Emma had ever seen stood calmly on a golden perch. She knew immediately that it was a phoenix, a rare magical bird with red and gold plumage. She could barely keep her eyes off it, and desperately wanted to stroke it.

'Please, sit.' gestured Dumbledore, knocking Emma out of her reverie.

She sheepishly moved toward the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk and sat down.

'You needn't look so worried, miss Pearson.' said Dumbledore with a smile. 'Contrary to what you were expecting, you are not about to be expelled. While there are some that would prefer it, I do not.'

Dumbledore paused for a moment to sit behind his desk. 'I trust the gift I left you was satisfactory? You're looking much healthier.'

'Yes, professor, thank you, but...' replied Emma, confused.

'Many years ago, a young wizard who came to this school had been bitten by a werewolf. There were those that would have expelled him too, or worse. Instead I made arrangements for everyone's safety. I'm going to do the same for you.

'You must recognize that it matters not the unfortunate event that has befallen you, but what you do with yourself now. So long as you can control yourself, that you are never a danger to others and keep your condition a secret, you will always be welcome at Hogwarts.'

'Thank you, professor.' said Emma, beaming. 'I promise I'll try my best.'

'Make no mistake,' said Dumbledore suddenly looking very stern, 'Should you endanger anyone or reveal what you are to anyone, the consequences will be completely out of my hands. Do you understand?'

'Yes, professor.'

'Excellent.' beamed Dumbledore, 'In that case we'll need to arrange your diet. Since we do not currently know how often you will need to feed, you will have to contact me the moment you think your thirst may start becoming a problem. Better safe than sorry, yes?'

Emma nodded, 'Yes, professor, thank you'.

'Good, then I think that's all for the time being, except...' paused Dumbledore, 'Would you satisfy an old man's curiosity do you think. May I ask when it was that you were bitten?'

'I don't know, professor. I don't think I was.'

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Interesting. Hagrid led me believe that this was a very recent change?'

'Not very, sir. I think it started about three months ago.'

'I see, thank you for indulging me. Now, go and enjoy your weekend now that you're safe in the knowledge that you won't be leaving us so soon.' said Dumbledore smiling.

'Thank you, professor.' said Emma, about to leave. 'Before I go I just wanted to say that I love your phoenix, may I ask, what's its name, sir?'

'Fawkes.' said Dumbledore, looking over to his phoenix admiringly.

'Thank you. Goodbye Fawkes, goodbye professor.' waved Emma.

Emma couldn't believe her luck. Not only had she avoided expulsion, but she'd been promised a regular supply of blood to keep her thirst under control. She didn't have a problem with the conditions Dumbledore had imposed. She knew she couldn't tell anyone, and had no intention of ever biting anyone, let alone killing them.

She decided that since she now owed Hagrid a very big favour, she'd give him a visit. She made her way passed the great hall, into the grounds outside and down to Hagrid's hut. It was nearly dinner time when she arrived and wasn't sure Hagrid would be in.

'Bin ter see Dumbledore have yeh?' she heard Hagrid call from her left, making his way toward her from the forbidden forest armed with a large crossbow.

Emma ran up to Hagrid to give him a hug, though that wasn't easy given how much taller he was.

'Thank you, Hagrid.' she said, releasing him. 'Yes, everything is great! Dumbledore's letting me stay, as long as I don't hurt anyone and nobody finds out.'

'Told yeh he would, didn't I? Great man Dumbledore. Great man.' said Hagrid, opening the hut and hanging up his coat and crossbow and taking off his boots. 'You look a lot better than yeh did yesterday, that's fer sure.'

'I feel a lot better too. I don't feel so... hollow.'

'Not surprised. You've bin starvin' yourself since yeh were bitten, I suppose.'

'But I wasn't bitten, Hagrid. I mean, I don't remember ever being bitten and I can't find any marks either.'

'Not bitten? I've never heard of a vampire not bein' bitten. Yeh're certain?'

'As certain as I can be. What does that mean?'

'I dunno. When did the change start? Maybe that'll give us a clue.'

'It started about three months ago. I slowly started losing sleep and appetite. About a week after I'd met you I stopped being able to sleep completely, and it was last week where I really couldn't eat normal food any more.'

'So gradual? You must be right about not bein' bitten. The change from bein' bitten takes hours, not months.' said Hagrid, deep in thought.

This confused Emma. Like Hagrid she thought it impossible to become a vampire without being bitten. 'Do you know much about vampires? I only know the muggle stories.'

'I don't know much, I'm afraid. Magical creatures are more my thing, see. Maybe you could try the library?'

'Won't that draw attention to myself?'

'I'm sure you'll think of somethin'.'

'Okay, I'll see what I can do. Thank you, Hagrid, for everything, really.'

'Don't mention it. And you let me know if yeh find anythin'.'

'Of course. You're the only person I can tell.'

Emma gave Hagrid another hug, said goodbye and made her way back up to the castle. By this point it was early evening and if she didn't get back to the dormitories soon, she'd be sure to get in trouble. When she got back to the dormitory, she noticed there was a rather large crowd surrounding a notice on the wall. Judging from the chatter she learnt that flying lessons would start on Thursday, and much to everyone's chagrin, it would be with the Slytherin's.

The second week went much the same as the first. Emma was performing well in classes, though still finding some difficult. Potions and Astronomy were both fairly straight forward. Charms was fun and one of the few lessons she was able to use her wand. Transfiguration, while also being one of the few lessons to use wands, was proving far more difficult. They were each given a match by professor McGonagall to turn into needles, but even Hermione had only managed to turn her match silver. Emma just couldn't get hers to change at all. Defence Against the Dark Arts felt worse than the first week. The headache seemed to get worse every minute and felt like it was doing irreparable damage. Hermione inquired a few times whether Emma was alright, but quickly gave up as Emma could barely concentrate on breathing, let alone talking.

By the end of the lesson, Emma had no idea what had been taught.

'Are you alright now?' asked Hermione nearly dragging Emma from the room. 'You looked awful. I nearly asked to have you sent to the hospital wing.'

'Yeah, I'm okay now, I think.' gasped Emma, glad to have some fresh air again. 'It's just...'

Emma was about to mention the garlic and how it was having this effect on her, but realised that that would be tantamount to admitting being a vampire.

'Just... what?'

'Never mind. Don't we have flying lessons now?'

'Yes, that's right.' glared Hermione.

By the look Hermione gave Emma, it was clear she wasn't fooled by the obvious evasion, but she didn't say anything.

They made their way, along with the other Gryffindors, down toward the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. The sky was clear and there was a slight breeze. Perfect weather for flying according to some of the chattering students. Once they'd made their way down the sloping fields they stopped at a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest. The Slytherins were already there, as were twenty broomsticks lying in two neat rows on the lawn.

When their teacher, Madam Hooch arrived she was quick to get the lesson started.

'Well, what are you all waiting for?' she barked. 'Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.'

Emma followed Hermione to some brooms and stood by one. It was a scrawny looking thing. It wasn't straight and had bits of twig coming out at strange angles.

'Stick out your right hand over your broom,' called Madam Hooch from the front, 'and say "Up!"'

'UP!' everyone shouted.

Some people's brooms, like Harry's, immediately jumped up into their awaiting hands. Most, like Hermione's simply rolled around the floor. Emma's broom on the other hand was acting like she didn't exist.

Emma tried shouting 'Up' a few more times but it was futile. The broom refused to budge.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows, correcting their grips. Emma thought that flying definitely wasn't for her.

'Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard.' said Madam Hooch. 'Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle – three –'

Emma was dreading this. She thought maybe she could pretend to kick off and save herself from having to fly.

'- two -'

It turned out that Emma needn't have worried. Neville, a nervous boy, jumped before Madam Hooch had even put the whistle to her lips.

'Come back, boy!' she shouted, but Neville was shooting straight up in the air like a rocket. Neville couldn't hold on though and with a gasp he lost his balance and plummeted toward the ground. There was a thud followed by a horrible cracking sound and Neville lay face first in the grass in a tangled heap.

Madam Hooch rushed to Neville and was leaning over him, face as pale as a ghost.

'Broken wrist.' she said.

Emma knew it was more than that though. She could smell it before she could see it. The assault of the smell on her senses was quick, but thankfully diluted. She'd already sniffed the air and moved forward a step before she regained her control and stopped breathing. Given that everyone's attention was on Neville, Emma was sure that she'd gone unnoticed.

'Come on, boy – it's all right, up you get.'

Madam Hooch turned to the rest of the class.

'None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch". Come on, dear.'

Emma couldn't hold her breath much longer, so before they were even out of sight, she had to breath. The smell had already given over to fresh air so she was safe again. Emma hadn't realised until this point that she was beginning to get thirsty. Maybe it was the smell that had made her thirsty or maybe not, either way she thought it was time to tell Dumbledore to arrange for another bottle.

Emma was brought back to reality from her thoughts by a commotion between Harry and the Slytherin boy, Malfoy.

' _Here we go again._ ' thought Emma.

Malfoy took off on his broom with something Harry wanted and Harry quickly went to grab his own broom.

'No!' shouted Hermione. 'Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all into trouble.'

Harry ignored her and grabbed his broom anyway. Once again he fell right into that bully's hands.

Emma didn't want to watch this scenario play itself out so she sat, cross-legged on the ground and started absent-mindedly picking at the grass. She could hear some of the others clap and woop, but wasn't really paying attention. That was until she heard a loud shout.

'HARRY POTTER!'

It was professor McGonagall and she was running toward Harry. Maybe that will teach him not to take a bully's bait next time. Emma doubted it.

'Never – in all my time at Hogwarts -' gasped professor McGonagall, almost speechless with shock. '- how dare you – might have broken your neck -'

Emma didn't want to witness this so she went back to picking grass. By the time Madam Hooch came back the lesson was over and she had sent them all on their way. Emma walked with Hermione until she realised Hermione wasn't heading up to the dormitories.

'Where are we going?' asked Emma, pausing a step.

'The Great Hall.' piped Hermione turning around, 'It's dinner time.'

'Oh.' was all Emma could reply with.

'Let me guess, you're not hungry?'

'A little.' said Emma quietly.

She was being honest at least, only Hermione couldn't know what that meant.

'Come on then.' said Hermione, beckoning.

That was not the invitation Hermione meant to give. Emma couldn't help but glance at Hermione's neck, framed as it was by her bushy hair, and she could see the pulse behind the skin. The fear of attacking someone came back in a flood. She had to get away.

'Uhm...' stammered Emma, taking a small step backward. That wasn't going to be enough.

Hermione looked at Emma with pity. It was obvious that she could see the fear that Emma was feeling.

'Alright then, I'll get you something for later.' said Hermione turning back toward the Great Hall.

As soon as Hermione had turned her back, Emma took off at a sprint toward the dormitories bumping into a few people as she went. It was when she got about half way and her blood lust had cooled that she realised she needed to get a message to Dumbledore immediately. She knew she wouldn't be able to go to his office, he'd likely be at dinner in the Great Hall. Her best bet now was the school owlery at the top of the west tower where the school owls and owls belonging to students lived.

She ran through corridors, some secret passageways and up a lot of stairs. When she arrived she had to lean against a wall to catch her breath.

She took some parchment out of her bag, along with her quill and ink and wondered what she would write. She knew she had to be tactful in case someone else read the letter.

 _Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

 _I hope this letter finds you well._

 _I just wanted to write to you to say that I am now beginning to struggle with the gift you sent me. Could I possibly have some help with it?_

 _As for the number of days we were unsure of before, I would say five, but I can't be certain yet._

 _Sincerely._

 _Emma Pearson._

Emma hoped that the letter wasn't too cryptic for Dumbledore to understand. She rolled up the letter, packed her parchment and ink back into her bag and went into the owlery. The room was tall, circular and covered from top to bottom in perches except for some large windows which didn't have any glass in, to allow the birds to come and go as they please. The floor was covered in straw, owl droppings and bits of regurgitated rodent skeletons. One of the owls closest to Emma looked at her expectantly and when she held up the letter, it offered it's leg for her to tie it to.

'Could you deliver that to professor Dumbledore, please?'

The owl immediately flew up and out of the window with the letter in tow.


	8. Chapter 8 - Bathroom Break

**Chapter 8 – Bathroom Break**

After returning to the dormitories and finishing some homework in the common room, Emma was waiting, impatiently, in her bed. It was about 11 o'clock at night and the others were all asleep by now. Emma knew it was too soon, she'd not heard anything since she checked her trunk thoroughly after putting her homework away, but she just wanted to check again.

To her surprise, there it was. Another white, opaque cylindrical bottle. Emma quickly and quietly grabbed it and made her way down to the common room, hoping it would be empty.

After a cursory glance around the room, Emma didn't see anyone.

'I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry.'

Emma quickly hid the bottle she was holding behind her back as a lamp flickered on.

'Oh, it's you.' said Hermione, wearing her pink dressing-gown. 'I thought you were Harry, sorry.'

'That's okay.' stammered Emma, sitting down opposite Hermione, trying desperately to keep the bottle hidden.

'What are you hiding?' chirped Hermione, leaning to the side to get a peek.

'Uhm... nothing. Just juice.'

Emma lifted the bottle for Hermione to see, but quickly put it behind her again.

'Why did you think I was Harry? What's he done this time?'

'He's determined to go to the trophy room at midnight to have a wizard duel with Malfoy.' huffed Hermione, clearly annoyed.

Emma sighed.

'When will he learn? Malfoy's just goading him because Harry always falls for it.'

'I know! But worst of all, he's going to get caught and lose us house points!'

She looked very cross now.

'So you're waiting here to stop him?'

'Yes!'

Emma was desperately thirsty now but couldn't drink here, not in front of Hermione, and she couldn't wait until midnight, after Harry had been stopped. She couldn't leave through the portrait hole either because Hermione would stop her too. The only choice left was the girls bathroom and hope nobody else came in.

Emma got up to go to the bathroom, bottle in hand.

'You're not going to help me stop them?'

'Sure, I just need to go to the bathroom.'

That seemed to ease Hermione's mood a little, but she still looked cross. As Emma walked into the bathroom she could see Hermione's lamp go out again.

Emma entered one of the cubicles, locked the door and sat on the floor cross-legged with her back to the door so nobody could open it. It was there she opened the bottle.

Everything was the same as the last time. She lost control upon smelling the blood, it was cold too, like it had been kept in a fridge and the shaking-adrenaline feeling was just as satisfying.

A few moments after she'd finished, she heard raised voices coming from the common room. Harry must have come down. Emma wanted to get up and help like she promised but she still hadn't regained control of herself yet. She could only sit there with her head leaned against the cubicle door, barely able to even twitch her fingers.

By the time Emma could stand and leave the bathroom, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. She decided to go upstairs to check if Hermione was there and to get some homework to do overnight. Hermione's bed looked just as it did when Emma went down earlier. The curtains were drawn so Emma assumed Hermione had gone to bed. She grabbed her Transfiguration and Charms homework and started work on them at one of the desks down in the common room.

It was about an hour later when Emma heard a commotion outside the portrait hole and got up to have a look. She'd only taken a few steps when Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione all tumbled in through the hole and onto the floor or nearby chairs breathlessly, like they'd been running.

'What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?' said Ron. 'If any dog needs exercise, that one does.'

Emma was about to ask what's going on when Hermione sat up, and she looked really mad this time.

'You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?' she snapped. 'Didn't you see what it was standing on?'

'The floor?' Harry suggested. 'I wasn't looking at it's feet, I was too busy with it's heads.'

'No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something.'

Hermione stood up and glared at Harry and Ron.

'I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.'

Hermione turned towards the dormitories, still facing Harry and Ron and still glaring, took a step and walked straight into Emma. Emma had to catch Hermione to stop her falling over.

'Sorry, Emma. I didn't see you there.'

'Don't worry, it seems to happen a lot to me.'

Emma saw out of the corner of her eye, Harry and Ron nodding to each other.

'I thought you'd be in bed by now?' Hermione asked.

'I'm not tired, but you're one to talk. I thought you were going to stop them, not join them.'

'You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?' said Ron.

Both Emma and Hermione glared at him.

'No thanks to them, I got locked out!' spat Hermione storming off to the girls dormitories.

'So, who won?' asked Emma to Harry, sarcastically.

'Won?' asked Harry.

'Your duel. Hermione said you were going to duel Malfoy.'

'He didn't show up and told Filch we'd be there.'

'Knew it.' sighed Emma. 'Fell for it again. You know, you shouldn't let Malfoy play you like that.'

'We didn't think he'd chicken out.'

'That's because you didn't think that was his plan all along. Get Harry Potter to break another school rule and get him caught. Cunning really. I can see why the sorting hat put him in Slytherin.'

Emma looked at the three boys with their puzzled looks, shrugged and went back to her homework. The boys went off to their dormitories. Emma heard Ron say something, but only caught 'the pair of them'.


	9. Chapter 9 - A Problem Shared

**Chapter 9 – A Problem Shared**

The next few weeks passed mostly without incidents. Most classes were going well and steadily getting more interesting. Charms seemed to be one of Emma's favourites, as did Potions, despite Snape's antagonism. Emma had actually been getting so good at potions and charms that she began sabotaging her own concoctions and spells so as to appear as average as possible and not draw attention to herself. In Transfiguration, however, sabotaging was unnecessary. Emma still hadn't made much progress at all and it was really starting to get her upset. She really liked professor McGonagall and felt like she was being a disappointment. As for the other lessons, Herbology, History of Magic and Astronomy, she was doing well, but didn't really enjoy them. Flying lessons were going about as badly as they could. Emma's broom simply refused to even acknowledge her presence. Madam Hooch had tried swapping brooms around to no avail. They worked for other people, just not Emma. As opposed to Transfiguration, this didn't bother her in the slightest.

Defence Against the Dark Arts, however, was still by far the worst lesson. Emma could swear that she'd never heard a single word professor Quirrel had said in any lesson. In an attempt to catch up, Emma had started reading _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ , but it wasn't really helping.

As for friends, Emma still didn't really have any. Hermione was the person she was closest to and even they barely spoke more than a few words to each other. Harry and Ron, who seemed friendly at first, had started to ignore Emma now, especially since Hermione was refusing to talk to them after their previous debacle.

For Emma's diet, she was coping much better with the bottles of blood every five days. It kept her thirst in check and she hadn't lost control since, aside from while drinking. She didn't like that the blood was always cold, but was still grateful that she was getting any at all.

On the 12th of October, Emma received her eighth bottle of blood since being at Hogwarts. Since it was a Saturday, she had to wait until midnight before taking the bottle out of her trunk and going down into the common room to make sure it was empty. Emma went to her favourite seat which had it's back to the wall next to the fireplace and had a good view of both the portrait hole and the dormitory entrances and sat down.

Emma put the bottle on her knee, opened the lid and started drinking before she could smell it. She felt her conscious control fade as the vampire took over, as it always did, and she relaxed as she felt the cool tingling spread throughout her body. She'd only just finished drinking when she heard footsteps coming down from the dormitories. Emma's thoughts froze, but the vampire put all senses on alert.

' _No, please no!_ ' thought Emma, begging to regain control.

The footsteps got louder and louder the closer they got until a figure rounded the corner. It was Hermione.

As soon as Hermione saw Emma, she knew something was wrong. That definitely wasn't Emma. Emma's eyes were wide open and searching, her lips were curled back baring her, now blood-soaked fangs and her posture was that of a snake about to strike. She even hissed.

' _Run, Hermione._ ' shouted Emma, inside her head. ' _Run!_ '

Whether Hermione read her mind, or was thinking the exact same thing, she turned and bolted toward the girls bathroom, with Emma close behind her. Hermione had the advantage of being on the other side of the room from Emma when she started, but it almost wasn't enough. Emma was fast. When Hermione slammed the door to one of the cubicles, she'd only just managed to lock it when Emma slammed head first into the door and fell backwards.

Emma felt the pain as her nose broke, but still couldn't control herself. The vampire seemed to be thrown off by the blow. It had given up sniffing the air and instead was looking around, searching for it's prey. It could just-about smell Hermione, but couldn't see her, and it was in pain so it slinked backward into the wall, under the sinks and kept watch. Emma could do nothing but hope Hermione was okay.

Hermione was scared stiff. The three-headed dog was nothing compared to this. At least she could get away from that. There was nowhere for Hermione to run now. She was locked in a toilet cubicle with a feral vampire outside. She stood as still as she could, and tried to keep her breathing even since she didn't want to alert it.

It was a good ten minutes, though it felt much longer for both of them, when Emma finally started to regain at least some control of her body.

'Hermione?' whispered Emma, flexing her fingers, still not able to get up.

'Emma?' squeaked Hermione, unlocking her door.

'No, don't! Lock it!' shouted Emma, as she felt the vampire home in on the sound. 'It still has control.'

'Emma?' asked Hermione again.

'I'm so sorry, Hermione. I'm so sorry.' muttered Emma, trailing off. 'I'm so sorry.'

It was another few minutes before Emma could finally get up. She leaned on one of the sinks, turned on the tap and splashed her face with water.

'You can come out now, Hermione. It's safe. It's over.' said Emma.

Hermione tentatively unlocked the door and crept out, keeping an eye on Emma to see if she'd turn again.

Thoroughly ashamed, Emma walked into the common room and fell into her favourite seat, but the bottle of blood was still open. Plugging her nose, which she realised didn't hurt any more, she closed the lid on the bottle with her other hand and threw it violently across the room where it landed in a seat on the far side.

To Emma's surprise, Hermione came up and sat in the seat opposite and she looked shell-shocked.

'Aren't you afraid of me?' asked Emma, feeling awful.

'Not you, no.' replied Hermione, meekly. 'The vampire, yes.'

'I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't hurt you did I?' said Emma, ashamed.

'No, no, I'm alright. It's my fault, I should have known better.'

'Your fault?' asked Emma, incredulously. 'You weren't the one who turned into a dangerous monster.'

'But I knew you were going to feed. I came down to tell you I knew.' said Hermione talking fast. 'I'd read what vampires were like when they fed, so I thought I'd come down before you... but... I'm sorry, I should have waited until tomorrow.'

'Don't you dare apologise, Hermione. I feel bad enough without you blaming yourself. How did you find out, anyway?'

'It's obvious isn't it?' said Hermione, still speed talking. 'You're very pale, you never sleep, you never eat, you never feel the cold, you've got fangs, garlic makes you ill and you stare at peoples necks when you're hungry.'

Emma was dumbfounded that Hermione had noticed all that.

'I never stood a chance, did I?' said Emma in resignation to herself and putting her head in her hands.

After a few moments, Emma let her hands drop into her lap and it was obvious she was crying now. 'I wonder how they'll do it. Does a stake in the heart actually work, or will they cut off my head?' she asked hypothetically.

'What?' asked Hermione, blinking in confusion.

'Hermione. I attacked you. There's only one thing the ministry can do now. They will kill me.' she shuddered. 'When Dumbledore finds out...'

'He's not going to find out. Not from me.'

'I don't understand. I could have killed you... or turned you.' exclaimed Emma, eyes wide. 'How can you even look at me?'

'You're the only friend I have here.' replied Hermione.

Emma didn't know how to reply to that and luckily she didn't have to. A short moment later, Hermione shook her head slightly, her eyes drooped and her mouth gaped open into a big yawn. She looked absolutely exhausted.

'Come on, Hermione.' said Emma, helping her up. 'We can talk about this tomorrow. Get some sleep.'

'Promise?' asked Hermione, yawning again.

'Promise.'

Emma helped Hermione up to the dormitory and laid her on the bed. Hermione was fast asleep before her head had even hit the pillow. Emma closed the curtains around Hermione's bed and went back to the common room to retrieve her empty bottle. She replaced the bottle in her trunk and changed into her muggle dress.

Emma knew that as soon as Dumbledore found out what had happened she was going to be executed and not wanting to leave Hogwarts without exploring it properly, she decided to try the grounds outside, starting with the great lake.

It was barely 1 o'clock in the morning when Emma left the portrait hole, being very careful not to wake the Fat Lady as always. She didn't want to get caught before getting a chance to see the lake so she went very slowly, and very carefully, but she didn't see anyone.

It was still dark when Emma got to the entrance hall. She unlatched the front gate and was nearly thrown backward by the door and the heavy wind outside. It took her a great deal of effort to close the door again. The grounds looked eerie in the dark. It was overcast and raining heavily and the new moon was only a few days old. The Dark Forest was especially unwelcoming swaying angrily as it was in the stormy weather. Emma took a left out of the front steps and made her way toward the lake. It was dark enough that she didn't need to hide any more.

The lake she saw today was nothing like the one she saw on the first day. That lake was as still as glass, this one was turbulent and violent. She slowly walked along it's edges for over an hour, the rain and her drenched hair whipping her face in the wind. It was liberating, to feel so free. She finally stopped at the base of a tree and sat down, facing the lake. There she sat, as still as a statue for hours, mesmerised by the dark swirling lake and the crashing waves waiting for Dumbledore or the ministry to find her.

When it started to get dark again, Emma began to hope, against her fear, that nobody had found out. She was sure Dumbledore could find her out here if he wanted to. She decided to make her way back to the castle as slow as before, taking in everything she could see. She didn't want to miss anything. It was about dinner time when she reached the front gate again.

Emma stood on the mat just inside the door, dripping from head to toe. A few students making their way to dinner were staring at her. She wrung her hair out, oblivious to her audience, and combed her fingers through it to tidy it up a little. After shaking her hands out a couple of times, spraying the floor with droplets, she took a breath and made a run for the dormitories. Not wanting to leave a trail of water leading straight up to the Gryffindor common room that Filch could follow, she took a few detours until she wasn't dripping everywhere before heading back.

When Emma arrived at her bedroom, she took off her still-soaked dress and underwear and threw them on the floor next to her trunk. After putting on her dressing-gown she started to towel dry her hair. It was then that Hermione burst in.

'Where have y...' she said, stopping suddenly, surprised. She took in Emma's appearance and the soaking clothes on the floor. 'Where _have_ you been?'

Seeing Hermione, Emma felt ashamed again and she really wanted to avoid this conversation.

'Hey, Hermione. How was your day?'

Hermione just stood there with her hands on her waist and gave Emma a distinct look of disapproval.

'Oh, all right.' huffed Emma. 'I went to the lake.'

'In this weather? Wearing that?' snapped Hermione, pointing to the dress on the floor. 'Are you mad?'

'It was fun. The wind was a bit strong, but it was amazing. You should have seen the lake, it's beautiful.'

'A bit strong?' said Hermione, exasperated.

She marched over to Emma and put one of her hands on Emma's forehead.

'Ow!' she shouted, immediately recoiling her hand in shock. 'Emma, you're freezing!'

She sat down opposite Emma and just looked at her wearily.

'I... I hadn't noticed.' whispered Emma, suddenly feeling very small.

'I was worried about you, Emma. I didn't know where you'd gone, nobody did.'

Emma didn't know how to reply to that, so she just kept drying her hair, slowly.

'I thought you might do something stupid after last night.' said Hermione. 'Why the lake, of all places?'

'I wanted to see the grounds before I was executed.'

'You really didn't use your head did you?' chided Hermione. 'How would Dumbledore find out what happened last night?'

Emma was beginning to feel smaller by the second. Hermione had obviously given this far more thought.

'I... don't know.'

Hermione looked at Emma patiently, like she was talking to a much younger child.

'There's only two ways. Either one of us tells him, or someone saw us. Right?'

'I guess so...'

'So, I'm not going to tell him, and I didn't see anyone else, did you?'

'No, I guess I didn't.'

'Well then. How is he going to find out?'

Emma nodded, getting the point.

'Okay, good. I hope you won't do anything like that again, or you'll get yourself expelled at the very least.'

'Thank you, Hermione.'

They sat in silence after that until Emma had finished drying her hair, brushed it and put some fresh school robes on. She sat down again by the window between her bed and Hermione's.

'When were you bitten?' asked Hermione after a while, breaking the silence, curiosity evident on her face.

'I wasn't.'

'You weren't? But, all the books I've read say that all vampires are bitten.'

'I know, that's what I was told too.'

'But how?' asked Hermione, clearly confused.

Emma explained everything about her apparent transformation from human into vampire, from how gradual it was, down to the effects it had on her.

'But that goes against everything the books have said!' said Hermione, clearly confused. 'This doesn't make any sense.'

'Tell me about it.' sulked Emma.

'Sorry. This must be hard for you.'

'It's not so bad.' said Emma thoughtfully, 'I mean, I hate that I lose control, that I attacked you but everything else is alright.'

'And garlic?' inquired Hermione.

'Eurgh,' winced Emma, putting her hands to her temples, 'Don't remind me.'

'Sorry,' said Hermione going quiet for a few moments. 'So what do you think caused it?'

'I've got no idea.' frowned Emma.

'Well, let's find out then.' replied Hermione looking chirpy.

'What? How?'

'The library!'

Emma couldn't help but smirk at that. The library was Hermione's answer to everything. She'd started to list off the books that she'd already read on vampires, to make sure her suspicions about Emma were correct, and also some of the books she'd seen but hadn't read yet. Together they made a plan to read them all.

Between lessons, homework, exploring the castle and Hermione having to sleep, Emma and Hermione didn't have a lot of time to read the books in the library, and there were a lot to get through. It had been just under two weeks since they started looking and they hadn't found anything of use. The books were either devoid of any useful details or kept saying the same things over and over.

'This is useless.' whispered Hermione loudly, slamming the book she was reading closed.

Emma leaned back with a sigh, glad to have the break. Hermione looked clearly annoyed, almost as if the library was betraying her.

'It's ok, Hermione.'

Hermione, ignoring Emma, started on a rant about how there should be some books in a school like Hogwarts with the information they needed. Emma wasn't really paying attention, almost daydreaming.

'Emma?' interrupted Hermione after a few minutes, waving her hand in front of Emma's eyes.

'Sorry, Hermione. You were saying?'

'You're doing it again.'

When Emma just looked confused, Hermione pointed to her own neck.

'Ooh.' whimpered Emma, looking away, ashamed.

'You're getting hungry, aren't you?'

'I'm not sure. A little, I guess. It just sort of creeps up on me.'

'Your next feed isn't until tomorrow, is it?'

'That makes me sound like I'm a pet.' sulked Emma. 'But yes, tomorrow night.'

'You should probably tell Dumbledore to make it four days from now on, to be safe.'

Emma just nodded. She really didn't like this part of being a vampire, the dangerous part, so keeping it in check was something she couldn't risk getting wrong. She leaned over into her bag to get some parchment and her quill and wrote a short letter to Dumbledore.

'I'll have to get this to the owlery.'

'It's all the way at the top of the west tower. Can we make it?' asked Hermione, checking the clock on the wall. 'We've only got half-an-hour until we have to be back inside the common room.'

'Sure, we can.' smiled Emma knowingly. 'I know a short-cut.'

They packed up their bags, returned the books to their shelves and walked out of the library, not wanting to upset Madam Pince, the rather strict librarian. As soon as they were out they started running, Emma leading the way.

'How did you find these secret passageways?' asked Hermione breathlessly, trying to keep up with Emma as they slipped into the last one on their way.

'I don't think you want to know.' murmured Emma, slowing down to let Hermione catch up.

'You haven't been going out after hours, have you?' chided Hermione.

'I don't go out at midnight.' said Emma, defensively. 'I usually leave about four in the morning.'

'You know we're not allowed out until six.'

'I do now.' joked Emma. 'Here we are.'

Hermione could only shake her head in disapproval. They were both out of breath when they got to the owlery, even though it had only taken them a few minutes. Emma walked inside and looked for an owl to post her letter. It was dark outside now and most of the owls were out hunting. A young tawny owl glided down from the rafters to a perch next to Emma.

'Hello there.' smiled Emma. 'Could you post this letter to Dumbledore for me, please?'

The owl gave a small hoot and held it's leg out for her.

'Thank you.' said Emma, as it flew off.

They made their way back down to the Gryffindor common room at a run again. Using more secret passageways, they managed to make it with ten minutes to spare.

'Do you think he'll get it in time to get you some more today?' asked Hermione as they climbed in the portrait hole.

'I hope so.' replied Emma.

Emma and Hermione stayed up, waiting until after Lavender, Parvati and Fay had gone to bed before checking Emma's trunk. There it was, the very familiar opaque white bottle. Emma took it out and went down to the common room with Hermione following.

'Is it human blood?' asked Hermione, wondering out loud.

'I don't know.' thought Emma. 'I don't think I want to know either.'

Hermione was quiet for a short while, considering that.

'What does it taste like?' she asked, breaking the silence again.

'Try some if you want,' said Emma offering the bottle to Hermione, and giggling when Hermione's nose turned up in disgust. 'I don't really know. It's sort of sweet, and a bit salty, but I can't really taste it because it's always so cold.'

'Cold? I thought you couldn't feel the cold?'

'Not on my skin, but when I drink this, it chills my insides. It's like they keep it in a fridge.'

'Well,' said Hermione, taking out her wand. 'Try this.'

She waved her wand with a fairly simple swish up, around and down again and then put the tip of her wand to the bottle.

' _Calda._ ' incanted Hermione.

She left the wand tip on the bottle for a few seconds, put it away and then put her hands around the side of the bottle.

'There you go.' she said, beaming.

Emma put her hands to the bottle but couldn't feel any change at all. She looked at Hermione quizzically.

'I'll leave you to it then.' smiled Hermione. 'Good night.'

'Good night.'

Emma waited until she couldn't hear footsteps any more and then took the bottle to the bathroom and locked herself in a cubicle. This was what she did every time now, just in case.

She opened the bottle and started drinking from it and immediately knew what Hermione had done. The blood was warm, really warm. She thought she could just about taste the blood before, but that was nothing compared to this. Her body now relished every second of it while she drank until not a drop remained. The shivering she used to get after drinking had been replaced with a tingling warmth, not unlike pins-and-needles, but not uncomfortable. From her fingers to her toes, her whole body tingled.

The most important change Emma had noticed was how quickly she managed to recover. Within a minute she was twitching her fingers, and within two she was getting up to walk around. This was miraculous. The last time she drank it took her over 15 minutes to get up again. She assumed that it must take the body much less time to absorb the warm blood than cold. Emma was ecstatic, she absolutely had to learn that spell.


	10. Chapter 10 - Hallowe'en

**Chapter 10 – Hallowe'en**

It was Hallowe'en morning and Emma had been putting off leaving the common room because all of the corridors outside were filled with an awful smell. Others were lavishing in it though, which was apparently pumpkin. Emma didn't like it one bit, it made her nauseous. Grudgingly, she eventually had to leave and make her way to Charms.

It was in this lesson that Emma, and the rest of the Gryffindor class, received a nice surprise. Professor Flitwick had announced that they were finally ready to try the levitation charm they'd been practising. Professor Flitwick chose to put the class into pairs. Emma wanted to be paired with Hermione, someone she was sure would out-shine her. Hermione ended up being paired with Ron, which made all three of them very unhappy. Harry was paired with Seamus, and Emma was paired with Neville.

'Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!' squeaked Professor Flitwick. 'Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too.'

'Would you like to try first, Neville?' asked Emma, pointing at the feather they were meant to be levitating.

'No, no.' stammered Neville. 'You first.'

'Okay.' said Emma, poising her wand.

' _Wingardium Leviosa_.' she incanted, while performing the swish and flick that Professor Flitwick had described.

Emma knew she'd gotten it right immediately. She didn't move her wand at all and the feather stayed where it was, twitching slightly. Emma, now very pleased with herself, broke eye contact with the feather and pretended to be upset.

'Your turn.' she said, leaning back and frowning.

Neville insisted that they keep taking turns, even though he hadn't managed to move the feather at all, so Emma kept purposefully doing the wand movement wrong in order to not levitate the feather. They'd only swapped turns a few times before Emma heard Hermione and Ron have an argument. It seemed that Hermione was trying to help Ron by telling him how he was doing it wrong, but he lost his temper.

'You do it, then, if you're so clever.' snarled Ron.

With an expectant smile, Emma watched Hermione roll up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand precisely and said the incantation perfectly. Her feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

'Oh, well done!' cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. 'Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!'

Emma knew Hermione would out-shine her. She tried to catch Hermione's eye and gave her a thumbs up. Hermione smiled back and then tilted her head to the side, as if to ask ' _And you?_ '. Emma nodded and saw Hermione smile again before Neville interrupted to say it was Emma's turn.

Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class.

Emma and Hermione were just walking into the crowded corridor when they both heard Ron complain very loudly in front of them with no attempt at discretion.

'It's no wonder no one can stand her,' he said to Harry. 'She's a nightmare, honestly.'

Hermione didn't take that well at all. She was already quite upset and had started to tear up. Emma tried to comfort her, but Hermione rushed off, barging past Harry.

'I think she heard you.' said Harry.

'So?' said Ron. 'She must've noticed she's got no friends.'

As if Emma wasn't angry enough at Ron. She purposefully barged into him, nearly knocking him over as she passed. She could have done much worse, but she thought she'd made her point.

Hermione didn't turn up for Transfiguration and while Emma looked around all afternoon, she couldn't find Hermione anywhere. She was just about to head to the common room to look again when she passed Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girl's toilets and wanted to be left alone. Emma assumed this meant the ones on the sixth floor nearest the common room, since that's where Parvati and Lavender were coming from, but Hermione wasn't in there.

Emma made her way down from the sixth floor, going from one girl's bathroom to the next to find Hermione but there was no sign of her. It wasn't until Emma was nearing the first-floor girl's bathroom that Emma knew she was in the right place. She was just rounding the corner into the corridor where the bathroom was when, firstly, she saw Harry and Ron running away and secondly, she heard a high, petrified scream, coming from the bathroom. Emma didn't even check what Harry and Ron were doing, she just knew she had to get into that room because whatever it was, Hermione was more scared of it than she was of vampire Emma, and that meant something dangerous.

Emma saw the door to the bathroom was locked, the key still in it. She didn't have time for this. She ran at the door, getting her wand ready and thought really hard about opening the door. She pointed her wand at the keyhole and suddenly the lock and the hinges all exploded. The door flew straight into the bathroom. Not having time to even think about what she'd just done she ran into the bathroom and stopped suddenly.

In front of her was a troll. A gigantic, 12 foot troll, and it wasn't happy. Emma only had time to process the scene in front of her. Hermione was up against the far wall, the troll had evidently been about to attack her. The troll on the other hand, who was standing in-between Hermione and Emma had been distracted by Emma's explosion and had instinctively turned to attack.

Emma knew it was all over now. She could only watch as the troll's club swung closer and closer. She knew she couldn't duck or even raise her hands in time to defend herself. There was a loud thump followed very shortly by a lot of crunching and snapping. It was so sudden that she didn't even feel it at first. The club had hit her squarely on her left shoulder and hit her with enough force to crush most of the bones in her upper body. Now nothing more than a rag-doll, Emma was thrown clean off her feet, straight into a sink on the wall.

Emma was still conscious when she'd hit the sink and fallen to the floor, though that wasn't going to last much longer. The pain that was absent before was coming now and it was far too much to bear. The only thing besides the agonising pain that Emma could think about before she lost consciousness was that she'd saved Hermione.

Harry and Ron, having also heard the scream, turned just in time to see Emma run in. They quickly followed, but not quickly enough. They heard the thud from the club hitting Emma, and the smashes that followed as Emma hit the wall and fell to the floor, but they didn't see it.

'Emma!' screamed Hermione, hysterically.

When Harry and Ron entered, they saw the troll standing in the middle of the room, now turning to Hermione. They saw the pile of robes with bits of body hanging out at grotesque angles by the wall opposite them, and they saw Hermione still in hysterics, on the far end of the room behind the troll.

The troll advanced on Hermione, knocking sinks off the walls as it went.

'Confuse it!' said Harry desperately to Ron, and seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting it's club as it went.

'Oy, pea-brain!' yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting it's shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning it's ugly snout towards Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.

'Come on, run, _run_!' Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towards the door, but she wouldn't move, she was still staring at Emma's body in hysterics.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll even more berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid. He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice when you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped. It had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club with Harry clinging on for dear life. Any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in grief. Ron pulled out his wand, not knowing what he was going to do, he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head.

' _Wingardium Leviosa!_ '

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high up into the air, turned slowly over and dropped. With a sickening crack, it landed right on top of the trolls head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on it's face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.

It was Hermione who acted first. She ran right over to Emma's body to see if she was still alive. There was no pulse and Hermione lowered her head and started crying again. Harry and Ron came and leaned down on either side of Hermione, trying to comfort her.

With a gasp and a shudder Emma threw herself awake, making the three others all jump out of their skins. Her head was filled with a deafening ringing and her body was in the most pain she had ever felt. She couldn't feel anything except pain. She couldn't move her legs or her arms. Only her head seemed to be responding.

'I thought you were dead!' screamed Hermione.

'I... feel like... I... still am.' choked Emma, in severe pain.

She looked over the others in front of her and tried to turn her head to see the troll.

'Is it dead?' asked Emma.

Harry and Ron got up and looked over the troll.

'I don't think so.' said Harry. 'I think it's just been knocked out.'

Emma turned her head again, which was becoming easier, to look Hermione in the eye.

'It's... like my nose... all over again.' she whispered.

'You're healing, already?' gasped Hermione looking hopeful.

'Slowly, yeah.'

Harry had just bent down to pull his wand out of the troll's nose when they all heard loud footsteps coming toward them. The noise had obviously attracted attention. Moments later, Professor McGonagall burst into the room, closely followed by Snape and Quirrel.

Snape bent over the troll while McGonagall stared at Ron and Harry with the angriest expression they'd ever seen her with.

'What on earth were you thinking of?' said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice.

Harry and Ron just stared at each other.

'You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?'

'Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me.' said Hermione in a small voice leaning around.

'And me.' added Emma, raising her hand, trying not to show how painful it was.

'Miss Granger! Miss Pearson!'

Hermione got to her feet, pulling Emma with her. It hurt Emma so badly she thought she'd black out again, but she knew she had to act fine otherwise they'd be in far more trouble than they already were, so she grit her teeth. Emma nodded to Hermione.

'We went looking for the troll because we – we thought we could deal with it on our own – you know, because we've read all about them.'

Emma noticed Ron drop his wand. Emma could tell what he was thinking. Hermione Granger was the last person you'd expect to break school rules, let alone lie directly to a teacher. They were in a lot of trouble now though and they had to be very tactful with their excuses.

'If they hadn't found us, we'd be dead now.' added Emma.

'Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone.' said Hermione.

'It was about to finish me off when they arrived.' winced Emma, remembering the crunching sound of her shoulder caving in.

Harry and Ron were doing their best to not look dumbfounded. Emma didn't think they were trying hard enough. Couldn't they see how much trouble they were in?

'Well, in that case...' said Professor McGonagall, staring at all four of them. 'Miss Granger, Miss Pearson, you foolish girls. How could you think of tackling a mountain troll by yourselves?'

Emma and Hermione both just hung their heads.

'Miss Granger, Miss Pearson, five points will be taken from Gryffindor, _each_ , for this.' said Professor McGonagall. 'I'm very disappointed in the both of you. You'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses.'

Hermione left the room, with Emma closely behind trying desperately to walk normally despite the pain so as to not draw attention to her injuries.

Once they'd gone up a floor and were a safe distance away to not be seen, Hermione leaned under Emma's left arm and half-carried, half-supported her up to the common room.

They'd only gotten about half way when Emma had to stop, she couldn't go on. Even though she was healing, it wasn't as fast any more. Her bones seemed to have fixed themselves, but she was still in a lot of pain. She sat down on the stairs and Hermione sat down next to her.

'Thank you, for saving me, Emma.' said Hermione, exhausted.

'Well, I didn't exactly do much to help though, did I?' replied Emma. 'Though I guess it makes up for the time I tried to kill you.' laughed Emma, wincing when her ribs hurt.

They both started laughing but were cut short when they heard footsteps coming from below. It was just Harry and Ron catching up. They all just looked at one another.

'Thanks.' they all said, in unison.

'Why are you sitting here?' asked Ron.

'Emma can't walk any further.' replied Hermione.

'Should we go to the hospital wing?' suggested Harry.

'No!' said Emma, a bit more aggressively than she'd intended. 'That would only get us in more trouble.'

'Let's get you to the dormitory then.' said Hermione.

Harry and Ron took one of Emma's arms each and carried her back up to the dormitory with Hermione leading the way.

'Pig snout.' Emma heard Hermione say up ahead. They'd reached the dormitory.

They helped her through the portrait hole.

The common room was packed with everyone scoffing the food that had been sent up from the Hallowe'en feast. As if Emma didn't feel bad enough.

Harry and Ron both went to get plates before Emma could thank them for carrying her up the stairs, but Hermione stayed.

'You should lie down.' said Hermione, bossily, half-carrying Emma again.

They went up to the bedroom and Emma fell onto her bed but she was in so much pain she hardly noticed.

'Do you want me to stay?' asked Hermione, not sure what to do now.

'It's okay, Hermione. Go, get something to eat. You must be starving. I'll be fine, I just need rest.'

'Alright.' replied Hermione tentatively. 'I'll check on you in a bit.'

Emma lay on the bed, unmoving, thinking that Hallowe'en had been a very mixed bag, all things considered. Whatever happened though, Emma was sure that her friendship with Hermione, and even Ron and Harry now, was stronger than ever.


	11. Chapter 11 - Quidditch

**Chapter 11 – Quidditch**

The longer Emma was at school, the more and more she felt at home. It was the first day of November and the mountains around the school had become icy grey and the lake was beginning to freeze over on calm days.

During break, Emma had gone down to the lake to see if she could walk on the ice, but it was still far too thin. Disappointed, she trudged back up to the castle. It was on the way back that she found Hermione, Ron and Harry standing around a bright blue flame-in-a-jar that Hermione had obviously conjured. They had their backs to the jar, so they didn't see Emma coming.

'Heya.' chirped Emma to the three of them.

They all jumped.

'Hello, Emma.' said Hermione, looking over Emma's clothes with a frown.

Emma knew what that look meant immediately. Emma had forgotten to wear her cold-weather clothes again. It's just, she never needed them so it never occurred to her to wear them.

'Mind if I join you, I'm freezing.' lied Emma, wrapping her arms around herself.

'Sure.' said Harry.

Hermione moved over a little bunching up with the other two to let Emma stand near the flame. It was a good thing too as moments later, Snape came limping across the Yard. Even though they were close together, they moved even closer to hide the flame. It was almost certainly not allowed, especially when Snape looked so cross. He saw their guilty faces immediately and came over to find a reason to tell them off.

It was lucky Emma had fed only two days ago and wasn't a risk because as soon as Snape was near, she could smell fresh blood. She held her breath, just in case.

'What's that you've got there, Potter?'

It was his book, _Quidditch through the Ages_ that Hermione had leant him. He held it up.

'Library books are not to be taken outside the school.' said Snape. 'Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor.'

'He's just made that rule up.' muttered Harry angrily as Snape limped away. 'Wonder what's wrong with his leg?'

'Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him.' said Ron bitterly.

'It must be.' said Emma without thinking, breathing again. 'It's still bleeding.'

Ron and Harry looked at her quizzically. Hermione on the other hand had another frown on her face. It was with that look that Emma realised how stupid she'd just been.

'Didn't you see?' asked Emma, trying to be casual. 'He had blood on his robes.'

Harry and Ron shook their head, but they seemed to have believed her.

The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening, full of people chatting excitedly. Emma, Hermione, Ron and Harry sat together next to a window. They hadn't managed to get Emma's favourite spot as it was so busy.

'Could you check our homework, please, Hermione?' asked Harry.

'Which ones?' asked Hermione.

'Transfiguration and Charms'

'I'll check your Charms if you want.' said Emma.

Ron and Harry flinched. Emma was getting a little fed up with seemingly being invisible. They didn't look very happy about Emma offering to help. It was evident they'd rather have Hermione do it.

'Oh, let her look.' said Hermione grabbing their homework and passing the Charms ones to Emma. 'She's better than me at Charms anyway.'

Harry and Ron looked surprised.

'I wouldn't go that far.' said Emma, uncomfortable with the spot-light.

Emma started going over their work to try to ignore them. In fact, she was so absorbed in checking Harry and Ron's homework that she barely noticed Harry leave, saying he was going to ask Snape for his book back, and also barely noticed him come back. She heard the other three whispering about the three-headed dog, something being guarded and Snape but she didn't like eavesdropping so she ignored it. Just before they went to bed, Emma gave them their homework back. She'd noticed a number of mistakes that they'd have to fix but they were grateful for the help.

The next morning, Emma was still in the common room finishing her own homework when the other Gryffindors were heading down to breakfast. It was still fairly early though, especially for a Saturday, and she was beginning to wonder what was going on. She didn't have to wait long until Hermione came down the stairs into the common room and sat next to Emma.

'Morning, Hermione.' said Emma, still looking a little confused.

'Morning.' smiled Hermione. 'Have Harry and Ron gone down to breakfast yet?

'No, not yet.'

'Okay, I'll wait then.' said Hermione, looking at Emma. 'Are you alright? You look lost.'

'Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm just wondering why everyone's up so early.'

Hermione looked at Emma to see if she was serious.

'You don't know?' she asked. 'It's the first Quidditch game of the year today.'

'Oh.' said Emma, clearly disappointed.

'I thought you knew. We've been talking about it for weeks.' said Hermione, talking a little fast again.

'I don't like to eavesdrop. Besides, it's a sport, played on broomsticks! What's to like about it?'

'It's not eavesdropping among friends and I know you don't like sports, or broomsticks, but Harry will be playing.' laughed Hermione. 'You should come watch with us, for Harry.'

Emma tried protesting, but it was hopeless. By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. While the seats were raised high in the air, almost level with the goal hoops, some students had still brought binoculars.

Emma followed Hermione and Ron up to the top row of the Gryffindor section. She felt really out-of-place. Some of the other students had made a large banner which had _Potter for President_ written on it and underneath was a large picture of a Gryffindor lion. Hermione had also charmed it so that it flashed different colours.

They didn't have to wait long before the two teams came onto the field. The Slytherin team, led by Marcus Flint, a brutish fifth year boy and the Gryffindor team led by a burly Oliver Wood, also a fifth year.

Emma stopped paying much attention to the game very shortly after it had started. As she was expecting, it was really just a few people flying around on brooms. She was actually having more fun watching the crowd and how they responded to the game. She did keep glancing up at Harry, just to see how he was getting on, but he didn't seem to be doing much. She wasn't even sure what Harry's role in the game was.

'Budge up there, move along.' said a loud voice, followed by a prod on Emma's shoulder.

'Hagrid!' cheered Emma, Hermione and Ron together.

He immediately started talking about the game though so Emma just went back to crowd-watching. She started paying attention again when a murmur ran through the crowd. Apparently the snitch had been spotted and Emma looked up just in time to see Harry go headlong into a dive toward one of the Slytherin players. Harry's opposite had seen it too and was following, but nowhere near as fast. Harry was sure to win.

WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors. Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose nearly knocking Harry off and sending him off course.

'Foul!' screamed the Gryffindors.

Emma had no idea what was going on, but she was finding it incredibly fun watching how everyone in the stands changed emotions in synchronisation. She went back to alternating between watching the crowd and Harry, when she noticed Harry seemed to be going higher and higher.

'What's Harry doing?' asked Emma, still not sure what was going on.

'Dunno.' said Hagrid. 'If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have …'

Very shortly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. Emma thought Hagrid was right. His broom seemed to be jostling him about, trying to throw him off. Only a few moments passed when the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now hanging on with only one hand.

'Can't have.' said Hagrid in response to something Emma didn't hear, his voice shaking. 'Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark Magic – no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand.'

Emma immediately started looking over the whole crowd, face by face. Hermione seemed to have the exact same idea, grabbing Hagrid's binoculars. A small part of Emma's mind noticed that she didn't need binoculars to see the people in the opposite stands, yet Hermione did.

'What are you two doing?' moaned Ron, grey-faced.

'There!' gasped Emma and Hermione at once, pointing.

'Snape – look.' added Hermione.

Ron grabbed the binoculars. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering non-stop under his breath.

'He's doing something.' said Hermione.

'Jinxing the broom?' asked Emma.

'Looks like it.'

'What should we do?' asked Ron, frantically.

'Leave it to me.' shouted Hermione, running off.

Emma wanted to help, but knew Hermione would be able to handle it. Instead, Emma tried thinking of spells to use in case Harry fell. The only one she could think of was the levitation charm, but that didn't work on people.

Emma needn't have worried though. Hermione had succeeded. Snape let out a yelp that even she heard from the opposite side. It was enough though. Snape had lost his eye contact and the jinx was interrupted.

Harry immediately clambered back onto his broom and dived toward the ground. Emma had no idea what he was doing until he hit the field on all fours and coughed up a tiny gold ball.

Apparently, that was it. Game over. Gryffindor won.

Together, Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron went back with Hagrid to his hut for some tea, but the others just started arguing with Hagrid about Snape being the one who jinxed Harry's broom. Emma didn't like arguments so she just stayed quiet and fussed Fang until Hagrid all but kicked them out.


	12. Chapter 12 - Erised

**Chapter 12 – Erised**

Emma was staring off into space one morning. It was her birthday and exactly one week before Christmas. She didn't like this time of year. While the orphanage tried to make an occasion out of birthdays and Christmas, they simply couldn't afford presents for all of them, so they held little parties, barely more than the average dinner time, really. Since Emma always hated the attention, she came to dislike her birthday.

Christmas on the other hand, she came to dislike because of it's association with family. Emma had never felt too bad about not having a family before now. It's all she'd ever known and she'd always been with other children in the same position, but it still didn't make Christmas any easier. She couldn't help but think about her family, who they were and how they could have abandoned her as a baby on the orphanage doorstep in the depths of winter.

The orphanage had obviously contacted the police and the social services but since she was left with nothing but the bundle of blankets she was wrapped in, there was nothing to go on. All attempts at finding her parents had proved fruitless. After a few days in hospital, to make sure she was fit and healthy, the orphanage, feeling a degree of responsibility, took her in.

To start with, Emma was only given her first name, chosen by one of the volunteers at the orphanage, in case her parents were ever found. As that became increasingly unlikely, she was eventually given a made-up last name. This all made her feel somewhat fake, an outcast, unwanted and being at Hogwarts made everything feel worse. She was surrounded by students who all, for the most part, knew who their family was and were excited to be able to go home and see them again. Emma would never get that chance. It made her upset and she'd never felt so alone.

Emma was on the verge of crying when she was brought back to reality by a jostling. Hermione had just sat down next to her and she was holding a small, red and flat rectangular object.

'Happy Birthday.' whispered Hermione, handing over the object.

Emma was confused and overwhelmed. The emotion that was cut short before came back and she couldn't help it when two tears ran down her cheeks. She held the object shakily in both hands, having no idea what to do.

'What's wrong?' asked Hermione, tentatively. 'I didn't think you'd want to make a big deal out of it, but we can if...'

'I've never been given a present before.' said Emma, quietly.

'What, never?' asked Hermione, shocked.

Emma only nodded, staring at the present.

'That's awful!' said Hermione, giving Emma a hug. 'Well, now you have. Open it!'

Emma opened the present very carefully trying very hard not to tear the paper. She was worried about upsetting Hermione. Inside the red wrapping paper was a rigid and weighty object. It wasn't until Emma folded over the last piece of wrapping paper that Emma could see what it was. A hard-back book labelled _A-Z of Charms_. A quick glance inside the front pages showed that it was a book with a large selection of charm spells, what they did and how to perform them.

Emma was crying freely now, a mixture of sadness from before and now of joy.

'Thank you, Hermione.' choked Emma, giving Hermione a hug. 'It's amazing.'

'I'm glad you like it.' said Hermione looking at Emma sympathetically.

It was clear that she found it appalling that Emma had never been given a present before.

Emma glanced through the book, slowly calming down and occasionally drying her eyes on the sleeves of her robes.

'I'll leave you to it.' said Hermione, quietly. 'I'm going to get some breakfast. See you in Potions.'

Emma normally enjoyed Potions and she had the advantage of not feeling the cold, unlike everyone else who were huddling around their cauldrons in the freezing dungeon. However, on both the morning of her birthday and the following Friday, the lessons were made almost unbearable by Malfoy.

'I do feel so sorry,' he said, without a hint of sympathy, 'for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home.'

He was looking over at Harry as he spoke, smirking as Crabbe and Goyle chuckled, but Emma felt a stab of pain in her chest. She tried to focus on her potion and not let Malfoy get to her, but it was difficult. She still spent most of the lesson crying silently.

Emma knew Harry wasn't going home for Christmas, he signed up at the same time Emma did when Professor McGonagall came round the week before with a list of who would be staying. Ron and his brothers had signed up too as their parents were going to see an older Weasley brother, Charlie, who was working in Romania.

For Emma though, it wasn't a question of ever going back to the orphanage. It hadn't even occurred to her until Professor McGonagall had asked that she might have to. Hogwarts was her home now, and she'd do anything to stay.

After Potions on the Friday, the last day of term, Emma followed Hermione out of the dungeons and up toward the Great Hall. They had to stop when they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

'Hi, Hagrid, want any help?' Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

'Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron.'

'Would you mind moving out of the way?' came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind, making Emma's skin crawl and her eyes sting. 'Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to.'

Now it was Ron's turn to fall for it. He dived at Malfoy, and just as he'd gotten hold of Malfoy's robes, Snape came up the stairs.

'WEASLEY!'

Ron let go at once.

'He was provoked, Professor Snape.' said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. 'Malfoy was insultin' his family.'

'Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid.' said Snape silkily. 'Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you.'

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle barged roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

'I'll get him.' said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back. 'One of these days, I'll get him.'

'I hate them both.' said Harry. 'Malfoy and Snape.'

Hagrid looked at the four of them, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Emma, all looking angry or upset.

'Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas.' he said. 'Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat.'

So they followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

'Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?'

The Hall looked amazing. It put the orphanage's decorations to shame, many times over. The walls were covered in festoons of holly and mistletoe, and there were twelve towering Christmas trees placed evenly around the room. Some were decorated with sparkling candles, others with lots of tiny icicles. It all got too much for Emma to handle at this point, so she sneaked away without the others noticing.

The next day, all the students who were going home for Christmas made their way down to the Entrance Hall and from there, the train station.

'Have you had any luck finding more about... you know.' whispered Hermione on the way down.

'Nicolas Flamel, you mean? Not yet.'

'No... well, yes.' replied Hermione, momentarily sidetracked. 'I meant about... you, too.'

'Oh... no, not that either.' said Emma, looking down, ashamed.

Hermione just frowned.

'I'll keep looking, don't worry. Have a good Christmas.' said Emma, giving Hermione a hug.

'You too, Emma.'

Emma was stood at the top of the grand staircase waving goodbye to Hermione as she disappeared into the crowd.

It was still early morning so Emma decided to catch up on some exploring while she had the whole castle nearly all to herself for two weeks with nearly limitless access.

Since she knew all the corridors of the school by heart now, she wanted to find out what was in every classroom, cupboard and office she'd never been in before.

After nearly a whole day of exploring, the sun long since set, she knew what was in every room between the Gryffindor Tower and the Library. As she expected, most were just boring classrooms. Some were filled with desks and chairs and clearly still in use, some were dusty and dilapidated and one, the last room she entered, was clearly out of use. The desks and chairs were all piled high against the side wall and they were covered in dust and cobwebs.

Emma turned to leave, thinking there was nothing out of the ordinary, but something shiny caught her eye. At the far side of the room was a single, lonesome mirror. It was beautiful. It had a gold frame, was as tall as the ceiling and was standing on two clawed feet. At the top of the mirror was an inscription that read _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_. She had no idea what that meant, but being curious as to why such a mirror would be in a disused classroom, she walked toward it to inspect it.

At first glance all Emma saw was a very large ornate stone bowl sitting on the floor just inside the mirror. It was filled with a very dark, nearly black liquid and it seemed to be rippling slowly. Behind the bowl was her reflection, but it was leaning over into the bowl, drinking from it, causing the ripples.

When Emma stepped forward again to see the contents of the bowl better, already half-knowing what it was, her reflection instantly reacted to her presence. It stood upright and glared at her with bright, almost luminescent green eyes and barred it's teeth at her. It was quite a shock for Emma, to see herself as Hermione once saw, but the liquid now covering the reflection's nose, mouth and chin and dripping back into the bowl was what really made Emma stumble backwards a step. Highlighted by her reflection's bright pale skin, the red from the blood was shocking.

Of course, now that she had seen the blood, and started thinking about it, she realised she'd forgotten that tonight was feeding time. Her thirst grew stronger and losing herself, she began edging toward the bowl in the mirror instinctively, carefully, wary of the other vampire defending it's food. As her reflection made a threatening lurch toward her, she jumped backward to defend herself and the bowl and her feral reflection vanished.

Confused and dazed, Emma looked around the room, thirst still tainting her thoughts. She shook her head a few times, trying to regain some clarity. She knew she had to feed, but couldn't remember how. It was driving her into a frenzy, her thirst was getting worse and worse every second, making it harder and harder to think. She tried to remember how she normally feeds.

'The bowl, of course.' she thought looking back to the mirror.

The mirror was empty and there was no sign of the bowl. This confused her even more. She began pacing side to side restlessly.

'How?' she thought, almost yelling in her head.

It was on one of her paces toward the door she noticed the floor and something clicked in her head. The tiles looked white in the dark, almost like ceramics. Emma bolted from the room as fast as she could toward the Gryffindor Tower, still hazy from the blood lust. As soon as she'd made it up to her room, she slammed the door behind her and checked her trunk. She could barely control herself long enough to warm the blood up using the spell Hermione had taught her, let alone make her way back down to the bathroom. Luckily, Emma was the only one from her room that was staying for Christmas, all the others had gone home. She downed the bottle in one.

That whole night, Emma couldn't get the mirror out of her head. It had almost managed to trap her vampire nature in a blood frenzy, making it think that there was blood inside, impossibly out of reach. She laid down on her bed and wondered what the mirror might be. It obviously showed things that weren't real, even though it felt very real at the time. It must be a mirror magically enchanted to show the person something else, but what. Perhaps it was a trap, designed to ensnare magical creatures, or perhaps it showed someone the worst part of themselves, and being a vampire, it had unintended consequences. She didn't know, and that frustrated her. So, she had to find out.

As soon as it was four o'clock in the morning, she leapt out of the portrait hole and ran all the way back to the mirror room. She was scared that it was going to show her the blood bowl again, but now that she was fed, she knew she'd be able to handle it this time. She needn't have worried though. Looking into the mirror, she saw that the bowl was gone and that her reflection was standing just as she was. The only difference was that standing beside her reflection was a young woman.

Curious, Emma stepped closer. Apart from the mournful expression, the woman looked eerily like Emma. She had long, straight black hair and green eyes. She appeared quite short for her age and was little more than skin and bone in build. All features she shared with Emma. She also had pale skin, the dark shadows under her eyes as well as fangs. She was obviously a vampire too. At first, Emma thought this woman must be an older version of herself. The similarities were certainly very striking, however, something didn't add up. In the first vision from the mirror, her own reflection had changed, but this time, the woman was there in addition to herself.

Emma sat down, cross-legged in front of the mirror and thought about it. After a little while, Emma realised that this woman couldn't be her older self. Her face wasn't quite as round, her cheekbones more pronounced, her eyes not quite the same shape. All tiny little details that, while showed the woman wasn't Emma, clearly proved that they were definitely related in other ways. Perhaps, Emma thought, this woman was her mother, and that made her angry, or maybe it was just that she finally had a face to put her anger towards.

Having solved the puzzle of the woman in the mirror, she started trying to figure out the mirror itself. Glaring, and quite possibly hissing, at the woman again, she leant her head on her hands, looked at the floor and thought about the two visions it had given her.

It wasn't long before she put two and two together and realised it was showing her what she wanted.

'Is it really that simple?' asked Emma quietly, looking back at the mirror.

'So, you've realised what it does then?'

Emma jumped, turning to the voice, immediately expecting to be told off. It was Dumbledore, sitting on a desk by the wall.

'Uhm... I think so, professor.' said Emma, standing up and lowering her head timidly.

Dumbledore simply looked at her expectantly.

'It shows what I want, but...' paused Emma. 'It only shows one thing, so... I guess it shows what I want most?'

'Yes, exactly.' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'You understood that much quicker than most who have discovered this mirror.'

'Well, I had some help.' stammered Emma, embarrassed at the praise.

'Oh?' asked Dumbledore, smiling.

'It changed what it showed me. Last night, when I was hungry,' paused Emma, looking up at Dumbledore, but his expression didn't change. 'it showed me myself, drinking blood from a large bowl. It was horrible. It confused the vampire so much.'

'Yes, I did wonder if that was the case.'

Emma looked at him in shock, realising how much he'd seen. Ashamed, she turned to the side, facing the mirror and sat on the floor again.

'And now?'

'It's showing me, and a woman I think may be my mother.' said Emma glaring at the woman again. 'The vampire wants blood, and I want to know how I became a vampire. It's the only thing that makes sense.'

'Interesting. I've never seen or heard of it changing so suddenly like that.' said Dumbledore, moving to stand next to Emma at the mirror. 'I presume your mother is a vampire?'

'Yes, professor.'

Dumbledore nodded his head thoughtfully.

'So this mirror does show what we want?' asked Emma looking up at Dumbledore.

'Yes, quite simply, it shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.'

'So the vampire is stronger than me then?' sulked Emma, instantly realising what that meant.

'Are you sure that distinction exists any more?'

Emma, confused, looked at Dumbledore, at her cross-legged reflection in the mirror and then at the floor. Emma had certainly noticed the she was spending less and less time each feed unable to control herself. She had thought that it meant she was just getting stronger than the vampire, but Dumbledore was suggesting that they were one and the same.

'I...' stammered Emma sulking. 'I don't know.'

'This mirror shows us neither knowledge, or truth, only desire. Remember that.'

Emma nodded again, glumly. There was a few moments of silence as Dumbledore let her contemplate that.

'Now, my dear, I believe you've quite thoroughly explored this part of the castle. Perhaps it is time to move on?'

At this, Emma finally smirked. 'Yes, sir.'

She knew she wouldn't be allowed to see the mirror again so she took her last opportunity to glare at her mother, waved goodbye to Dumbledore and then left.


	13. Chapter 13 - Christmas

**Chapter 13 – Christmas**

In the week leading up to Christmas, Emma realised she would have to get some presents for Hermione, Harry, Ron and Hagrid. Never having had to buy presents for anyone, it took her a little while to decide what to get them, especially as money was tight. She decided that for Hermione, she would make an elaborate thread bracelet made with the Gryffindor colours of red and gold. She also used a charm spell on it that she found in the book Hermione had given her that would protect the bracelet from wear. For Hagrid, Emma remembered that he really wanted a dragon, so she got a piece of parchment and made an origami bird with it. After taking some scissors to it, she managed to make it look a bit like a dragon and then charmed it so that it could fly by itself.

While Emma thought that Hermione and Hagrid might quite like something hand-made, she didn't think the same thing of Harry or Ron. Instead, she sent an owl to order two boxes of Bertie Botts Every-Flavour Beans.

When Christmas morning arrived, it was a surprise for Emma to find four wrapped presents sitting on top of her trunk, not least because she wasn't expecting any. She had just returned from roaming the castle as for the past few days she had been spending all of her night hours exploring and all of her daylight hours reading books in the common room looking for mentions of Nicholas Flamel, or spending time with Harry and the Weasley's. The days had simply begun to blur together and she had lost track what day it was.

The first present was a box containing a new quill and some ink pots from Hermione. Emma was very happy with this as she was nearly running out of her own, and it was a very Hermione-ish present.

The second was a present along the same lines as the one from Hermione. It was from Harry and it turned out to be a box of potion ingredients. Emma was running out of those too, and she knew Hermione and Harry must have collaborated.

The third present was very roughly wrapped in thick brown paper with a note written in the very familiar scrawl of Hagrid's handwriting. Inside was a small wooden figurine in the shape of a cat. It looked like Hagrid had hand carved it. He must have remembered that Emma loved cats.

The fourth present, from Ron, was a box of chocolate frogs. Emma was going to have to give them to Hermione when she got back, or find a discrete way of giving them to Harry.

Emma put the frogs, quill, ink and potion ingredients into her trunk, put on her dress, grabbed her Defence Against the Dark Arts book and went down to the common room. The others were there already, making a lot of noise. Emma sat down beside Harry and Ron, who were currently playing Wizard Chess and thanked them for their presents. They both seemed appreciative of her presents too as they were already scoffing their faces with every flavour beans.

Emma was about to start reading when Ron declared checkmate.

'Your turn.' said Harry looking at Emma.

'Uhm, ok.' said Emma tentatively. 'How do I play?'

They both started explaining the rules, and Emma learned them very quickly, however, putting them into practise was something else altogether. She played a few games against Ron, but after the third game, she gave up. She learned how to read Ron's expressions while he played, more than she was learning the game. She knew the moment she saw him grin, she'd already lost. Emma decided wizard chess was not for her, just like sports.

When it was time for the others to go down to Christmas dinner, Emma made an excuse to put her book away and get changed, and that she would catch them up. She refused to let them wait for her. Of course, she had no intention of following them though. She knew they would forget about her quickly enough. Instead, Emma curled back up in one of the big cushioned chairs and kept reading her Defence Against the Dark Arts book.

Emma was still reading when a group of very bedraggled Weasley's and Harry came in through the portrait hole. Emma noticed that Harry had to look around the room four times before he saw her, and then she was sure it was because she moved. Her invisibility, or whatever was causing it, seemed to be getting stronger.

'There you are, Emma' said Harry.

'Where were you?' asked Ron.

'Sorry,' feigned Emma, 'I couldn't get up the courage to go.'

'We guessed as much,' said Harry smiling and handing over a large bag with one hand and holding out a red sparkly cylinder in the other. 'We brought some back for you.'

Emma thanked Harry and took the bag, gingerly from him. Like all normal food now, it smelled pretty bad. Then she just eyed Harry and the cylinder he was holding with confusion.

'What's that?' she asked.

'You don't know what a Christmas cracker is?' asked Ron, incredulous.

Emma just shook her head, feeling a bit stupid.

Harry explained what they were, and that they contained things, however he left out one important detail. Emma grabbed the end Harry was offering as he indicated and pulled.

Emma jumped when the cracker exploded with a loud bang into a large cloud of smoke that enveloped them both.

'Merry Christmas' they all shouted and laughed. Emma couldn't help laugh with them.

From her cracker she got a white beret hat that she put on immediately. It went really well with her little black dress. She also got a pack of exploding snap cards and a number of small live white mice that scurried away as fast as they could.

When Fred and George saw the exploding snap cards they asked to play, and soon they were all, including Percy, sitting round a table in the middle of the common room. It was quickly evident to them all, however, that Emma was very good at exploding snap. Her reflexes were so much faster than all of the others.

After a few games they all crowned Emma the winner and started playing other games. Emma watched as Ron played Harry at more wizard chess and as Fred and George ran around the Gryffindor tower being chased by Percy as they'd stolen his Prefect badge.

It was definitely the best Christmas Emma had ever had.

At one point in the evening, Emma excused herself to go upstairs, under the pretence of eating the food Harry had brought up for her. Instead she put it in the bin in her room and grabbed the bottle of blood that was sitting in her trunk. While she was warming the bottle up, she found a note from Dumbledore attached.

'Merry Christmas.' it said, simply.

After feeding and putting the bottle away, Emma took one of the books Hermione had suggested reading to find Flamel and went back downstairs. As she had done for the previous few days, Emma read in the common room until the boys had all turned in for the night, then she ran her hand through her hair, tidying it, put her beret back on properly, and then she was up and out of the portrait hole. Normally she'd go to a part of the castle she didn't know as well as she would like, and start looking around, for new areas or for secret passageways, however, this time she had a specific place in mind.

Having gone through every book Hermione had suggested she read, she thought she'd go explore somewhere she'd never been but could also read. That meant going to the restricted section in the library. Having never been in there for fear of Madam Pince, she saw an opportunity that hadn't occurred to her until now.

It made some sense to check the restricted section as Nicolas Flamel probably wasn't even in any of the normal library books, especially if he was supposed to be some big secret. Also, being the part of the library to contain information on the dark arts, it was more likely to have some information on vampires.

It took no time at all to reach the library, even though she had to take a detour to avoid Peeves.

Once in the restricted section, she started browsing the book titles one by one. A lot of them were meaningless to her as they weren't in English, probably Latin or other ancient language, and other books had no title at all.

When she was about to start pulling books out at random, to see the covers, she heard quiet footsteps approach her. They sounded like they were trying to be stealthy. Did they know Emma was here?

Emma immediately slinked into a dark corner between two isles and crouched stock still. As the footsteps got closer and closer, she saw the path in front of her slowly get illuminated by a lantern, dazzling her.

She kept watching, her eyes squinting against the bright light, until she expected to see a teacher walk into view, but she was surprised to see the lantern floating in mid-air. At first she thought it was Peeves, but he didn't make footsteps when he walked. This person, whoever it was, was invisible, and not in the way that Emma's fake invisibility seemed to work.

The invisible person walked right passed Emma's hiding spot, oblivious to her presence, until the lamp was set on the floor and something silvery started shimmering.

'Harry...?!' exclaimed Emma quietly, poking her head out of her hiding spot.

Harry jumped, nearly knocking his lantern over, before recovering himself, and the lantern.

'Emma?' he whispered breathlessly. 'What are you doing here?'

'Same as you, I guess.' replied Emma, creeping toward Harry. 'Looking for Flamel.'

Harry nodded and gazed around at the books.

'What's that you were wearing?' asked Emma, eyeing the silvery material Harry was holding.

'It's an invisibility cloak. It belonged to my father.'

'Wow. It's beautiful, and it feels like water.' crooned Emma, sliding the material over her hands.

'We should probably hurry,' whispered Harry. 'Filch could be here any moment.'

Emma nodded and they took a side each, looking for any useful books. Still not finding any of the titles useful, she started taking out books that looked interesting, to see their covers, but they were just as useless. She had just put a book back onto the shelf when behind her, she heard an ear-splitting screech that made her turn toward a threat, and hiss instinctively. She saw Harry slam a book shut and shove it back onto the shelves. Luckily he hadn't noticed Emma's outburst and she quickly regained her composure.

The screech didn't seem to stop with the book being closed though, it was still echoing around the library. Emma and Harry took one look at each other and knew they had to run. She watched as Harry threw on his cloak hastily, knocking his lantern over and then he disappeared. She listened for his footsteps running away and bolted in the opposite direction, heading back to the dormitories.

That had been too close a call and a really bad idea. She decided she'd had enough of the restricted section and wouldn't go back any time soon.


	14. Chapter 14 - Alchemy

**Chapter 14 – Alchemy**

The rest of Christmas, Emma spent most of her day time in the common room with Harry and Ron. She was reading her Defence Against the Dark Arts book through again for a third time on the evening Hermione had returned, the day before term.

Harry and Ron had been discussing something when Emma noticed it was about a mirror.

'Wait... mirror?' asked Emma, making them jump. 'You mean that huge gold one near the library?'

'Yes, you found it too?' replied Harry, immediately interested.

'Same night Hermione left for Christmas, yeah.'

'What did it show you?'

'Well,' said Emma, fidgeting and looking nervous, trying to decide what she could safely say. 'My mum.'

'It showed me my parents too.' said Harry, sympathetically. 'Though I've been getting nightmares since then. Have you had any?'

'No. No nightmares.' paused Emma frowning, giving Hermione a pointed look, before turning back to Harry. 'Though it is why I've not been able to get much sleep recently.'

Emma caught a raised eyebrow from Hermione out of the corner of her eye.

'You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad.' said Ron.

'Serves you both right for going out after hours! Three nights in a row, Harry? If Filch had caught you!' nagged Hermione. 'And you didn't find out who Nicolas Flamel is.'

'I tried!' sulked Emma defensively. 'I read every book you told me to. He wasn't in any of them. In fact, I'm beginning to think Hagrid led us on a wild goose chase.'

'I'm sure I've read his name before, somewhere.' said Harry.

'We're just going to have to keep looking then.' said Hermione matter of factly.

They were interrupted then by Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain telling Harry that he's booked the team to start training the next day and so Harry should get an early night.

'So.' said Hermione after Oliver, Harry and Ron had left them. 'Your mother? I know you don't like her, and given what you and Harry have said about the mirror, I know you didn't see her because you wanted to.'

Emma just nodded and grabbed two pieces of parchment out of her bag that she'd drawn some sketches on in her more idle moments.

'That one was from the night you left.' said Emma, answering Hermione before she could say anything.

'The night I left.' repeated Hermione nodding knowingly. 'Your feeding time.'

She turned the first sketch over to show the second.

'I know it's not a very good picture.' said Emma, self consciously, when Hermione giggled at it.

'No, it's very good. It's just that expression on your picture's face. You really don't like your mother, do you?' soothed Hermione, looking at the picture properly. 'She's... like you then? What does that mean?'

'I'm not sure. I guess it means I was born a vampire, though I don't know how that's possible, and it just seems to ask more questions than it answers.'

'We'll just have to keep looking then. At least we have a bit more information to go on.' said Hermione thoughtfully and yawning.

'Sorry,' smiled Emma. 'I'm keeping you up, aren't I?'

'It's alright.' said Hermione getting up.

'Oh, sorry. I... wanted to ask you something else.' remembered Emma, sheepishly, before speed-talking like Hermione does. 'Could I... borrow your Defence Against the Dark Arts notes, please? I'm getting really worried. I don't know anything and this book isn't really helping, and I've read it through twice now, and the garlic...'

Emma trailed off, looking up at Hermione, expecting to be told off. Hermione always nagged the boys about copying and refused to lend them her notes.

'Sure.' said Hermione giggling at Emma's expression and getting her notes out of her bag. 'But only because you've got a good reason.'

'Thank you.' beamed Emma, giving Hermione a hug.

'Not a word to the boys though!'

'Of course.' giggled Emma. 'Good night, Hermione.'

The first month of term had passed with droll monotony. Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron spent most of the free time they had between classes and in the evenings skimming through books looking for Flamel. Harry often wasn't there in the evenings as he was practising Quidditch, which had slowed down the search even more. It had consumed them so much that Emma hadn't had a chance to read any more books on vampires, and her exploration of the castle had taken second place to homework. She had no idea how the others, who needed to sleep, particularly Harry, ever finished theirs. She was making a little progress on both fronts though.

With the help of Hermione's notes, Defence Against the Dark Arts was starting to make a lot more sense and she had even learnt a number of counter curses. For exploring, she devoted her usual measly hour or two to the grounds. There was more ground to cover, but less chance of any secrets needing to be found, so it felt like a better use of her time. That and it was always nice to be outdoors in the heavy rain that had replaced the snow.

One evening, Emma was reading her A-Z of Charms book, trying to learn a new spell. She was sat in the common room next to Hermione who was losing at wizard chess to Ron. They all stopped, however, when a particularly glum looking Harry joined them. He'd obviously just come back from Quidditch training.

'What's the matter with you?' asked Ron. 'You look terrible.'

Harry leaned forward, and the other three copied.

'Snape's decided to referee our next Quidditch match with Hufflepuff.'

'Don't play.' said Hermione at once.

'Say you're ill.' added Ron.

'Pretend to break your leg.' suggested Hermione.

' _Really_ break your leg.' said Ron.

'I can't,' said Harry. 'There isn't a reserve seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all.'

'I don't really see the problem.' mused Emma as the others looked at her like she was mad. 'What's Snape going to be able to do, if he's refereeing? Won't he be too busy to try anything?'

She just received three glares.

'Okay, never mind.' she said, putting her hands up, resigning. 'Forget I said anything.'

At that moment, Neville toppled into the common room, which meant they did forget. Neville had a difficult time getting through the portrait hole as his legs were stuck together, obviously by the leg locker curse. Everyone in the common room laughed at him, which Emma didn't like. Neville was alright. Sure, he was a bit dim, but he was kind. Hermione wasn't laughing though and she jumped up and performed the counter curse on him.

'What happened?' asked Hermione, leading him to sit with Emma, Harry and Ron.

'Malfoy,' said Neville glumly.

Emma went back to her book and the spell she was learning. She'd gotten used to listening to Hermione, Harry and Ron, and even joining in when she felt she had something worth while to say, but she was still uncomfortable listening in when others were there.

She was interrupted a few minutes later when she heard Harry gasp. Looking up, she noticed that Neville was gone, and that Harry was looking at the back of a chocolate frog card.

'I found him!' he whispered. 'I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before. I read it on the train coming here. Listen to this: "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindlewald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel"!'

'Alchemy?' thought Emma out loud. 'Isn't that the thing the Greeks worked on? Trying to turn wood to gold, or something?'

'Stay there.' said Hermione excitedly, jumping up and sprinting up to the dormitories.

She quickly returned with a huge book.

'I never thought to look in here!' she whispered, still showing excitement. 'I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.'

'Light?' questioned Ron, incredulous, and Emma giggled.

Hermione shushed them as she looked something up, flicking through the pages.

'I knew it! I _knew_ it!'

'Are we allowed to speak yet?' asked Ron, grumpily.

'Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!'

'Ooh, that was it.' mused Emma.

'The what?' said Harry and Ron.

'Oh, honestly, don't you two read?' she said, pushing the book to the boys. 'You two. Read.'

Emma leaned over a little, skim reading the page. Just as she expected, it had a little about the Philosopher's Stone being able to turn any metal into pure gold. Not quite what she remembered from middle school, but close enough. There was also a small part about the Elixir of Life. A substance made from the stone that can make the drinker immortal.

'See?' said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. 'The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it. That's why he wanted the stone moved out of Gringotts!'

'A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!' said Harry. 'No wonder Snape's after it! _Anyone_ would want it.'

'And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that _Study of Recent Developments_ in Wizardry.' said Ron. 'He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?'

Now that they knew who Flamel was, and they weren't spending every spare moment in the library, Emma had begun to spend more and more time exploring the castle at night, really pushing her luck. She'd gotten into a number of close calls with Peeves and Mrs Norris, Filch's cat. At one point she'd managed to get herself trapped near the moving staircases, the only way out was to jump down two or three floors. Given the choice between breaking her legs, and getting caught, Emma knew which she would choose immediately and leapt off the stairs. Her legs would heal quick enough, but the house points she would lose, not so easy to get back.

As she fell, she spread her arms out slightly, to keep herself upright, and bent her legs a little to absorb the fall. She landed seconds later, three floors down, her legs buckled slightly under the force of the fall and she ended up in a squat-like position, kneeling, as her hands touched the floor. She was completely unharmed. Amazed, she stood up quickly, moving backward toward a wall, out of sight and looked up to where she'd jumped from. She was sure no human could do that without injury. Needless to say, she had a spring in her step for the rest of the night.

That morning, Emma was telling Hermione about her new ability when Harry and Ron came down from the boys dormitories for breakfast. Emma could tell Harry wasn't happy. He'd been getting more and more nervous the closer the Quidditch match came. It wasn't helped by Snape who, in Potions, seemed to make it his mission to berate Harry every lesson.

'I'm sure he knows that we know about the Philosopher's Stone.' said Harry when they left the dungeons.

Emma, Hermione and Ron didn't agree, but they didn't argue either. Snape was definitely being more antagonistic than usual toward Harry. The three of them had begun learning some curses, while Harry was at training, to use on Snape during the Quidditch match just in-case things got out of hand. Hermione had suggested they learn the leg locker curse, after seeing it used on Neville.

Emma, always up for learning new spells, managed to cast it on Ron first time. Hermione too had gotten it on her second attempt. Ron on the other hand had difficulty with it. He kept saying the spell wrong, and Hermione kept correcting him.

'It's _Locomotor Mortis_.'

Ron got more and more irate as the time passed, but at least he didn't yell at Hermione.

When it came time for the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff on the first weekend of March, Emma grudgingly made her way to the stands with Hermione and Ron. She'd been able to weasel her way out of the games that Gryffindor weren't playing, but with the threat on Harry, she couldn't get out of this one.

As the three of them got to the Gryffindor stands and started making their way to some seats near Neville, Emma noticed Dumbledore in the stands opposite them.

'Hey.' she said, tapping Hermione on the shoulder. 'Dumbledore's here!'

'What? He never turns up to a Quidditch match.' said Hermione looking to where Emma was pointing.

There was no mistaking that silver beard.

'There's no way Snape's going to try anything now.' beamed Emma, somewhat smugly. 'So, enjoy the game.'

Hermione, who wasn't as calmed by the news that Dumbledore was there, frowned but kept going to find her seat.

Emma ran back down the steps to ground level and wondered where she'd go now. Realising quickly that every single teacher at the school was in the stands, she could go anywhere. She looked at the castle, as inviting as it was, and then surveyed the grounds around her, noticing the Forbidden Forest.

So far, Emma hadn't broken that rule, but she had considered it many times. She wasn't as scared of it as some of the other students were. She'd heard Ron say there were werewolves in there, among other things, but Emma was a vampire, maybe the creatures in there would be more scared of her.

In the end, Emma decided to compromise. She ran into the forest, but only far enough so that she could still just see the grounds and the castle occasionally between the gaps in the trees. She walked slowly along, inside the circumference of the forest for a while, quietly. With her much improved hearing and great night-vision, she saw a lot of owls and heard their hoots, and the odd rustling of leaves caused by small mammals, but Emma didn't see anything dangerous. It just looked like a particularly dense forest to her, though it was beginning to thin a little as she got nearer to the castle's side of the forest. The sun was beginning to set and Emma had just stopped suddenly when she heard the telltale sound of the castle's front doors shutting. That was unusual because sunset meant dinner time. Quickly moving out to the edge of the forest, to see the front steps, she saw a dark figure walking swiftly toward the forest a short distance ahead of her. It looked like Snape.

As curious as ever, Emma headed quietly to just short of where Snape would enter, and followed him, using her sharp senses to keep her distance. She noticed he was heading toward a small clearing, and once she had gotten near it's edge, she ran up to a tree, kicking off it and using it to propel her into the lowest branches and there she perched. She smelt the garlic, making her head hurt and her vision blur, before she saw the figure Snape was talking to. Emma covered her nose with her robes so she could breath without the stench and as her senses partially recovered, she heard Quirrel stutter for what must have been the first time.

After a few moments, her senses fully recovered, she heard a rustle of leaves above her to her left. Looking up, she had to stifle a laugh when she saw Harry, with his broomstick, perched on the top of a tree just a few over from where she was.

'… d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus …'

'Oh, I thought we'd keep this private.' said Snape, his voice icy. 'Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all.'

Quirrel replied with incoherent muttering and was interrupted by Snape.

'Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?'

'B-b-but Severus, I -'

'You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel.' said Snape, taking a step towards him.

'I-I don't know what you -'

'You know perfectly well what I mean.'

An owl hooted overhead and Emma heard another rustle from where Harry was. It looked like he'd nearly fallen out of the tree. Emma had to stifle another giggle, missing a bit of the conversation. Harry must be loving this. Proof positive Snape is up to no good.

'- your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting.' said Snape.

'B-but I d-d-don't -'

'Very well.' interrupted Snape. 'We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.'

He threw his cloak over his head and marched out of the clearing, back up to the castle. Moments later, Quirrel followed him, unsteadily. He must have been really shaken up.

Emma watched Harry then as he got back on his broom, flew down and landed in the clearing, looking after the two teachers. She waited a second before putting her robes back down again, seeing if the air was clear. Once she was certain she could breath properly, she jumped out of her tree and landed a few feet behind harry with a barely audible thud.

'Well, that was interesting.' said Emma, making Harry jump like she'd never seen him do before. 'You know, Harry. We should really stop meeting like this.'

Emma tried ever so hard, but she couldn't keep a straight face and had begun giggling uncontrollably and fallen on the floor. She couldn't help it. The look on Harry's face was priceless.

After a few seconds, Harry had started smiling too, seeing the funny side of it.

'Come on you.' chided Harry. 'We should tell Ron and Hermione.'

After stopping at the broom-shed and making their way up to the common room, they caught up with Hermione and Ron who seemed to have come from the medical wing.

'Emma, Harry, where have you _been_?' squeaked Hermione.

'We won! You won! We won!' shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. 'And I gave Malfoy a black eye and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens.'

'Never mind that now.' said Harry breathlessly. 'Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this...'

'This way.' said Emma leading them a few doors down. 'All clear.'

Emma and Harry looked at one another, not sure who should start.

'We were right. It's definitely the Philosopher's Stone.' said Emma first.

'And Snape's trying to force Quirrel to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get passed Fluffy yet.'

'He also said something about Quirrel's "hocus-pocus".' added Emma.

'There must be other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrel would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell which Snape needs to break through -' said Harry.

'So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrel stands up to Snape?' asked Hermione, alarmed.

'Seems so.' replied Emma.

'It'll be gone by next Tuesday.' said Ron.


	15. Chapter 15 - Small Unfriendly Dragon

**Chapter 15 – Small Unfriendly Dragon**

Days passed, then weeks and Quirrell seemed to be holding up better than they thought he would. From a distance, Emma could tell he was getting paler and thinner, like he was ill, but he mustn't have broken yet. Snape was in as bad a mood as ever, which only seemed to confirm that.

Every time Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron passed the third floor corridor that was hiding Fluffy, they'd check he was still growling inside.

Harry had taken to giving Quirrell encouraging smiles, and Ron kept telling people off for laughing at his stutter. Emma on the other hand just kept trying not to fall over whenever she smelt the stench of garlic that followed him around.

Hermione and Emma, however, had more on their mind than Quirrell and the Stone. They had both drawn up some revision timetables and Hermione had even colour coded her notes and kept nagging the boys to do the same.

'Hermione, the exams are ages away.'

'Ten weeks.' snapped Hermione. 'That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel.'

'But we're not six hundred years old.' said Ron. 'Anyway, what are you revising for, you already know it all.'

'What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me...'

The teachers had the same idea as Hermione and had taken to giving them more than double the volume of homework they'd been getting up until now. It had gotten to the point where Emma was only able to explore one or two nights a week, and they were a blissful escape from the stress, even if she sometimes went into the Forest.

Due to the volume of work, the Easter holidays could hardly be described as such, and Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron were, yet again, spending most of their free time in the library. Emma had gotten really quite good at blocking out Hermione muttering quotes or incantations to herself, or Ron groaning and complaining. Emma mostly just sat and read in silence. Sometimes books to help with her homework, and other times her notes for revising. She had noticed though that whenever she read her notes, particularly the ones from after Christmas, she could remember them nearly word for word. She could swear her memory was never that good before, but then again, she had started second guessing everything good and bad about herself as being the result of her vampirism.

Emma had put her notes down, realising there was no point finishing reading them and sighed, breathing deeply and caught a familiar musky smell that grabbed her attention. She sniffed the air a couple more times, making Hermione look at her curiously, and tried to find the source.

'Hagrid?' asked Emma out loud, looking toward an isle of books not far from their table.

Hagrid shuffled out into view looking very shifty while hiding something behind his back. He was wearing his moleskin overcoat which was what Emma could smell.

'Hagrid!' said Harry, happily excused from his work. 'What are you doing in the library?'

'Jus' lookin'.' he said trying to sound nonchalant and failing, piquing their interest. 'An' what're you up ter? Yer not still lookin' for Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?'

'Oh, we found out who he was ages ago.' said Ron impressively. 'And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosophers St-'

'Shhhh!' implored Hagrid looking around quickly to see if anyone was listening. 'Don't go shountin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?'

'There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact,' said Harry. 'about what's guarding the stone apart from Fluffy-'

'SHHHH!' hissed Hagrid again. 'Listen, come an' see me later. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don't go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' supposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh-'

'See you later, then.' said Harry as Hagrid left the library.

'What was he hiding behind his back?' asked Hermione, thoughtfully.

'That's his business.' mused Emma. 'I'm sure he's got a good reason for hiding something.'

'Do you think it had anything to do with the stone?' asked Harry.

'I'm going to see what section he was in.' said Ron, any excuse to get out of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down onto the table.

'Dragons!' he whispered. 'Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons!'

Emma looked at one of the books, it was titled _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland_.

'Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him.' said Harry.

'Same here.' added Emma. 'That's why I gave him that paper one that flies around his hut.'

'But it's against our laws.' said Ron. 'Dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlock's convention of 1709, everyone knows that...'

Emma leaned back in her chair and kind of zoned out the conversation. She wondered why Hagrid would suddenly decide to get a book on dragons. She was woken from her daze a short while later when the boys started packing their work away.

'Can you two put the books away while I just finish this bit off.' asked Hermione to the boys.

Once they were out of earshot, Hermione looked at Emma with a frown. Emma guessed what that meant.

'Was I?' asked Emma, looking down at Hermione's neck reflexively.

Emma had started getting a bit better at noticing when she was doing it, but her thirst was ever present and she just couldn't stop herself.

Hermione nodded.

'Do you think I should talk to Dumbledore again?'

'I think so.' whispered Hermione. 'You've been doing it more and more the past two weeks.'

Emma lowered her head before nodding. This would be the third time she'd have to ask Dumbledore to reduce the number of days between each feed. By the middle of January, she'd had to reduce it to every three days and now it was going to be every two. This had Emma very worried. If it continued, she would have to feed all the time.

She was still looking down at nothing in particular, thinking, when Harry and Ron returned.

'Are you two ready?' asked Harry, seeing that Emma hadn't packed up yet.

'Emma's not feeling very well.' said Hermione.

'Oh, okay.' said Harry. 'Do you want us to go with you to the hospital wing?'

'No, no, it's fine.' said Emma, shaking her head slowly. 'I'm just going to go up to the common room and rest for a bit. Go see Hagrid and say hello for me, please.'

As soon as the others had left the library, Emma started writing her letter to Dumbledore before packing up her things, running to the owlery to deliver the letter and then headed back to the common room.

Later on that afternoon, a dejected looking Hermione, Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole, Emma's suspicions instantly verified.

'He got a dragon didn't he?' said Emma, more of a statement than a question.

'Yeah.' said Harry. 'He won it.'

'Playing cards!' added Ron exasperated.

'And he's keeping it.' said Emma guessing.

'Yes.' said Hermione and all four of them slumped in their chairs.

The next week went the same as the past few, drowning in work, only now they also had to worry about Hagrid getting in trouble for having an illegal dragon egg.

One morning, Emma was waiting in the entrance hall for the other three to finish their breakfast before going to the greenhouses for Herbology when she noticed Hedwig at the table, and Hermione and Ron talking animatedly. She grudgingly decided to join them, despite the smell, and as she got closer, she could hear them talking about the egg. Even though Emma knew her hearing was far better than anyone else's in the Great Hall, they clearly weren't being careful enough. She'd noticed out of the corner of her eye that Draco Malfoy had gotten up from the Slytherin table and was coming round the front of the tables, behind Emma, to hear what Hermione and Ron were discussing.

Emma, still walking slowly, slowed down a little more, half way between Malfoy and the other three and concentrated on not being seen, trying to use her fake invisibility. A few weeks ago, Emma and Hermione had worked out that Emma's ability was more like a 'notice-me-not' charm than invisibility, but it had a very similar result, and Emma had spent a while trying to control it better. She knew it was working when she stopped and turned around, and Draco hadn't noticed. She then walked right into him, and as he was still walking toward her, they both nearly fell over.

'Watch where you're going...' drawled Malfoy.

It seemed that he'd intended to finish that sentence with her name, but came up short. Emma just lowered her head, apologised and moved to let him go by. There would be no problem now as Hermione and Ron were silent and staring.

'You really need to be more careful.' said Emma, sitting down next to Hermione.

'Thanks, Emma.' said Harry.

They still continued arguing on the way to Herbology, though much quieter. Ron wanted to skip lessons to see the egg hatch, but Hermione wouldn't allow it. In the end, Hermione relented to go during the morning break.

'It's nearly out.' said Hagrid, ushering them into his hut.

There was a large egg on the table, covered with cracks and it was shuddering and clicking intermittently. All five of them got closer, pulling up chairs and sitting around the table, waiting for the inevitable.

After a few moments, there was another, louder click and more cracking and the egg split open, dropping the baby dragon onto the table very unceremoniously. Emma thought it was amazing.

The dragon had a jet black skinny body and long spiny wings and it's head was just as Emma had expected. It's snout was long with huge nostrils, it had some tiny horns and large, bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed and a few sparks shot out of it's snout.

'Isn't he _beautiful_?' murmured Hagrid, reaching a hand out to stroke the dragon's head and it snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs that put Emma's to shame.

'Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!' crooned Hagrid.

'It is beautiful!' smiled Emma.

Hermione, Harry and Ron looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

'Well, sure, it's ugly as sin, but it's beautiful in it's own way, don't you think?' said Emma, getting the dragon's attention.

'Hagrid,' said Hermione, rolling her eyes at Emma. 'how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow exactly?'

Hagrid was about to answer when the dragon tried to bite Emma's hand off and it didn't look like it was doing it affectionately either, like it was with Hagrid. Emma backed away a little, as did the other three, but the dragon clumsily moved toward her, blowing a few sparks out again.

'Uhm, Hagrid...' said Emma, as calmly as she could, trying desperately not to hiss at it like she _really_ wanted to, when she dodged another bite from the baby dragon. 'Why is your dragon trying to hurt me?'

'Stop frightenin' him.' said Hagrid angrily.

'I'm not doing anything.'

'Yer upsettin' him.' he said crooning at the dragon, trying to get it's attention, but it was definitely trying to hurt Emma. 'Tha's it. Emma, get out.'

Emma thought about protesting, but the dragon trying to eat her fingers and the look on Hagrid's face told her otherwise. She was about to close the door on her way out when she spotted Malfoy moving quickly down the path to Hagrid's hut from the castle, obviously up to no good. He'd stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Emma. She took one look at him and reopened the door slightly.

'Hagrid,' she shouted louder than needed. 'Malfoy's here to see you.'

If looks could kill, Emma would certainly be dead. He glared at her angrily and then stormed back up to the castle.

'Never mind, he's gone.'

Over the next week, Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron went down to Hagrid's to plead with him to let the dragon go. Emma failed at that as every time she entered the hut, the dragon would try to attack her, which resulted in Hagrid banning her from visiting. The other three weren't having much luck either as Hagrid was very stubborn. He wouldn't let the dragon go as it was too young and wouldn't be able to survive on its own. He'd also named it Norbert, which was never a good sign. He was obviously getting attached to it.

One night, they were in the common room trying to think of ways to persuade Hagrid to get rid of the dragon when Emma remembered that one of Ron's brothers worked with dragons in Romania.

'Why don't we send it to your brother?' asked Emma, looking at Ron.

'Which one?' replied Ron, confused.

'Charlie!' said Harry excitedly.

'Brilliant!' exclaimed Ron.

They broached the idea to Hagrid and he grudgingly agreed to let them send a letter to Charlie to see if he was willing to help.

Another stressful week passed where Harry and Ron would take it in turns to check up on Hagrid and the dragon using the invisibility cloak late at night. Hermione wouldn't go as she had a hard enough time letting the boys go out after hours and Emma couldn't as she was still banned. It was currently Ron's turn and Emma, Hermione and Harry were waiting up at around midnight, long after everyone else had gone to bed and they all heard the portrait open as Ron returned.

Emma could smell blood before Ron had even taken the invisibility cloak off and she quickly held her breath. She'd fed the night before, but given how often she had to feed recently, she couldn't risk it. She moved her hand under the table and jabbed Hermione as Ron took off the cloak. Hermione did a double take as she looked from Emma to Ron and back again, looking worried.

'It bit me!' complained Ron showing them his hand, that was wrapped in a bloody bandage.

Emma immediately looked away. Seeing blood often made her thirst far worse. Panicking, she got up quickly, running to the bathroom and locking herself in a cubicle. She collapsed down, back to the door as usual, gasped for breath and started crying. If she'd had even the slightest bit less self control, Emma was sure she'd have attacked Ron, right there, in front of the other two. She'd really begun to feel like she was balancing on a knife edge, one tiny wrong step away from losing herself and becoming feral. She was terrified.

Even though the door to the bathroom was good at stopping the smell of blood, Emma could still hear the other three, slightly muffled, talking in the common room.

'Emma's really... squeamish.' stammered Hermione to the boys, getting up. 'I'll just make sure she's ok.'

Hermione came into the bathroom, quickly closing the door behind her to let as little of the smell of blood in as she could, and sat down. Emma felt her door jostle as Hermione leaned on the other side of it.

'I can't do this, Hermione.' cried Emma. 'I can't. I'm losing, I know it, I feel it. I'm going to attack someone, I just know it. First you, now nearly Ron. Who's next, Harry? Hagrid?-'

'It's alright, Emma.' soothed Hermione. 'I know you. You'd never hurt me, or Harry, or Ron. And definitely not Hagrid, even if he is being pig-headed at the moment.'

'But I did try to hurt you.'

'Emma.' chided Hermione. 'You know full well that that wasn't you, that the vampire took over.'

Emma shook her head, sniffling, not really believing Hermione.

'You need to stop selling yourself short. You're stronger than you think. And it's been a stressful few weeks, what with homework and the upcoming exams and now the dragon, but we'll get through it, together.'

It took a few minutes of reassurance from Hermione for Emma to calm down and relax a little. Hermione knew that Emma had a tendency to see the worst in a situation, particularly if she was stressed out, but a few calm, logical arguments were usually enough to bring her around.

'Thanks, Hermione.' sighed Emma, wiping her face with her sleeves and getting up.

When Emma opened the door, Hermione extended her arms out wanting to give Emma a hug, but Emma stepped back a pace and held up her hands defensively.

'As much as I really would love a hug right now,' said Emma, a little sullen. 'I think it would be best if you don't put your neck so close to my mouth just yet.'

Hermione nodded and moved back a step.

'Thank you, though, Hermione.' said Emma, feeling a bit better. 'I really appreciate everything you've done for me. I'm really glad we became friends.'

'Me too.' smiled Hermione.

After a few seconds of silence, Emma turned her head toward the bathroom door when she heard the beat of feathers and Harry talking in the other room.

'What's up?' whispered Hermione.

'Hedwig's here. She has Charlie's note.'

Hermione looked at the door and then sympathetically back at Emma.

'Will you-?' asked Hermione.

'Go on, I'll be ok.' said Emma smiling weakly.

When Hermione came down for breakfast the next day, she updated Emma. Charlie had agreed to get some of his friends to take Norbert off their hands if they could get him up to the top of the astronomy tower at midnight on Saturday. The plan was for Harry and Ron to do this using the invisibility cloak, as it could only cover two of them and Norbert, however, there was already a problem. Ron had come down to the common room, thankfully no longer smelling of blood, but his hand was twice the size it should be and it was turning slightly green. Emma looked away again, just-in-case. Ron didn't want to go to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing with a dragon bite, but Emma and Hermione had been very insistent, and in the end, he relented, saying it was a dog bite.

When Emma, Hermione and Harry went to check on Ron later that evening, it was quickly apparent that Ron wasn't going to get much better in time for Saturday. His hand had gotten far worse and he looked absolutely terrible. Evidently, Norbert was venomous.

This meant coming up with a new plan, or just changing the current one, as it turned out. In the end, it was decided that Hermione and Harry would use the cloak to transport Norbert up to the astronomy tower. Emma would have volunteered in place of Hermione, but the dragon seemed to have a natural hatred for Emma.

She helped instead by showing Hermione and Harry a number of different secret passageways that would make their endeavour easier. She even suggested a few alternate routes that they could use in case they ran into trouble.

Apart from helping with the logistics, Emma offered to run interference for them so as to keep their path as clear as possible. She had originally thought about scaring Mrs Norris, to get Filch to follow her all over the castle, but she couldn't bring herself to be mean to a cat, even one as bad as Mrs Norris. Instead, just before curfew on the Saturday night, Emma broke all of the taps in one of the boys toilets on the upper floors, as far from the routes Hermione and Harry would take. Before she had even left the room, it was starting to flood.

That would take care of Filch for a long time. The only obstacles now would be Peeves, Mrs Norris, teachers and prefects, and it was Emma's job to keep them away for the night.

Emma left the portrait hole at the same time as Hermione and Harry and they wished each other good luck. Emma immediately ran off at a sprint, wanting to check up on the prefects patrols, when the other two vanished under the cloak, heading to Hagrid's.

She heard Harry whisper, 'She's fast!' just before she rounded a corner and smiled. She was back in her element.

After finding each of the house prefects, all doing their usual patrols exactly where Emma had expected, she knew none of them would be a problem. Her next stop was the boys bathroom she'd vandalised to make sure Filch was still occupied, because if he wasn't, he'd be the biggest problem by far. She poked her head round the corner into the right corridor and she could hear Filch complaining loudly inside while he was working. Mrs Norris was also standing guard outside the door.

' _Perfect!_ ' thought Emma to herself, turning back.

No Filch, no Mrs Norris and no prefects. This was going better than she thought it would.

The next issue would be the teachers. Snape wouldn't be a problem as he almost exclusively patrolled the dungeons. Quirrell and Flitwick would be fine too as Hermione and Harry wouldn't be going near their rooms. Sprout, Vector, Binns, Burbage and Trelawny would be non-issues as they rarely monitored the castle at night. This left McGonagall and Sinistra to worry about, and worry she did. McGonagall was known to be strict at the best of times, but she was particularly ruthless to those who broke curfew. Every time Emma had seen McGonagall while exploring, she'd always turned right around and ran. Sinistra on the other hand might be problematic as her office was very near the astronomy tower, it being her subject and all.

Emma ran to the moving staircases and jumped down four floors to start checking the paths she had suggested Hermione and Harry should take. She'd just had a look around the first secret passage when she heard them a ways behind her dragging what sounded like a crate. As good a way of carrying a dragon as any, Emma supposed. She went on ahead, her eyes and ears peeled for any trouble, but for the first half of the journey, they didn't find any. That was until she opened a secret door into a corridor, poked her head out to look around, only to find Peeves a short way away, staring at her. Could Peeves see through her notice-me-not ability?

'Who's there?' he said, carefully. 'Ickle ghostie or beasty? Should tell, I should.'

Before he'd even finished talking, Emma had run back through the passageway and back down to the previous corridor. She got a red crayon out of her pocket which Hermione had leant her and drew a red arrow pointing to Peeves. The other two would know what that meant, but Peeves was certainly going to be suspicious, and he'll probably be looking around to find them now. She had to distract him. She ran down a few corridors to where she knew a suit of armour would be, pushed it over, causing an incredibly loud crashing sound that probably woke up the whole castle, and ran back to the others. There's no way Peeves missed that.

Emma now went to the alternate route the other two should be taking, but she couldn't hear them walking. Instead she listened carefully for breathing. When she eventually heard them, nearly two floors up from where she'd last heard them, she saw why they'd stopped. Professor McGonagall was walking slowly down a long corridor toward them and she was in her tartan nightgown. She must have been woken by the suit of armour.

' _Stupid!_ ' thought Emma to herself.

If McGonagall didn't walk into Hermione, Harry or the dragon, she was going to hear them, or smell them when she got close enough. Emma, thinking quickly, planned a new route in her head, sprinting as fast as she could back down a floor, through another passageway and up again, ending up behind McGonagall and she was dangerously close to the others now. This time she quietly cast the levitation charm on the nearest suit of armour, moved it to the middle of the corridor and set it down forcefully with a clang and a rustle. Enough to get McGonagall's attention, but not enough to wake the whole castle. She then ran away, as fast as she could before she got caught, occasionally moving more suits of armour into the middle of the corridors and making a lot of noise. She hoped Peeves would take the blame for it. He was always moving the suits around.

Emma prayed the other two had managed to get away safely as she double backed toward the astronomy tower and caught up with them. They were safe, but exhausted, and still had to get Norbert up to the top of the tower. As she got closer, she made sure the other two could notice her. She really didn't want to frighten them, but didn't want to alert Norbert.

'Need a hand?' whispered Emma.

'Definitely.' whispered Harry, taking a breath and lifting up the invisibility cloak so Emma could see the crate. 'Nice work with McGonagall there, I thought she'd gotten us for sure.'

'It's actually my fault, I dropped the suit of armour to distract Peeves, but I guess it woke her up.' shrugged Emma.

She let the cloak fall back over the crate and helped push it up. It felt really weird lifting an invisible weight.

It took all three of them a lot of effort to get Norbert up to the top, but they finally made it, with nearly fifteen minutes to spare. Hermione and Harry threw off the invisibility cloak and collapsed, but Emma just sat cross-legged, looking out over the grounds.

'Here they are.' said Emma a short while later, seeing four figures flying on broomsticks in the distance and prodded the other two.

Charlie's friends were all very enthusiastic, but thankfully quiet. They'd made a harness that they could attach Norbert's crate to and then suspend him between them. Once they'd all buckled Norbert in safely, Emma, Hermione and Harry shook hands with the others and bid them a safe journey. At last, Norbert was someone else's problem.

Hermione and Emma both pulled Harry into a group hug. It had been one stressful night, but thankfully it was over.

'Can I join you on the way back?' asked Emma, turning to Harry. 'I haven't had a chance to use the cloak yet.'

'Sure.' smiled Harry, stress visibly rolling off him.


	16. Chapter 16 - The Forbidden Forest

**Chapter 16 – The Forbidden Forest**

The relief of getting rid of Norbert didn't last long. The exams were edging ever closer and they were still swamped with revision and homework.

It was the Saturday night, exactly one week after Norbert had gone, and Emma and Hermione were still working in the common room after the boys had given up and gone to bed. They had been asking each other test questions from Defence Against the Dark Arts, as they both thought it was their weakest subject when it came to the theory. Transfiguration, though, was still Emma's worst practical lesson, so much so that she was actually doing worse than Neville.

'Name one of the ways to treat a werewolf bite.' said Hermione.

'Apply a mixture of powdered silver and dittany.' replied Emma, mechanically.

She paused for a second, distracted by an errant thought, while Hermione waited for a counter question.

'I wonder how we'd treat a vampire bite?' asked Emma.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but stopped short, realising it wasn't a question about the exam.

'I don't know.' she said, thoughtfully. 'None of the books we've read have even mentioned it. Maybe there isn't a way, or maybe we learn it in later years.'

'Maybe.' murmured Emma. 'That's a bit odd though, don't you think? I mean, we've learned that vampire bites are incurable, just like werewolf bites. But that's it. We've learned a lot more about werewolves than that.'

'Maybe Professor Quirrell is too scared of vampires to teach us about them?'

'And yet he doesn't see one sitting in his class, right under his nose?'

'To be fair, you're not exactly a normal vampire, are you?'

'I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not.' said Emma, smiling a little. 'But that's kind of my point. What would happen if I bit someone?'

Emma opened her mouth, showing her fangs and put her thumb under one of them and pressed, not piercing the skin.

'Am I even venomous? How would I know? And how would it work?' asked Emma, letting her mind wander.

'Well,' said Hermione, getting that look she normally had when quoting a book. 'Venomous snakes typically have a groove running the length of their fangs that the venom can run down. They act very much like hypodermic needles. Unless vampires infect in a different way, I guess they would work very similarly.'

Emma started feeling her fangs with her tongue, to try to find any grooves, but couldn't feel any.

'You know,' said Hermione, looking a little embarrassed. 'my parents would love to see your teeth.'

Emma stopped short and giggled a little.

'Of course, they're dentists aren't they? That'd be interesting...' said Emma thoughtfully, but paused suddenly, eyes wide. 'Oh, no!'

'What's wrong?'

'Mrs Cole is going to make me go to a dentist when I get back, during the holidays! How am I going to explain these?' worried Emma, pointing at her fangs. 'I had normal human teeth the last time I saw them.'

'Never mind that.' said Hermione looking shocked. 'Won't they expect you to eat at dinner? And how will Dumbledore get you your... food? And how will you be able to warm it up without magic?'

Emma slumped in her chair as if she was suddenly deflated. She had been deliberately avoiding thinking about going back to the orphanage for the holidays. She really didn't want to go back, there was nothing for her there, but now, there were many very good reasons not to.

'Dumbledore can't make me go back, can he?' she asked. 'It's one thing for witches or wizards to find out, but muggles?'

'Maybe he'll let you stay here, where it's safer for everyone. I know Harry wants to stay too.'

'I'm not surprised, with the way his aunt and uncle treat him!' huffed Emma. 'Even the orphanage never treated us like slaves, like they do with Harry. I do hope Dumbledore let's me stay here though. I don't think I could cope going back there again.'

'Well, worst case, I'll ask my parents if you can stay over during the summer.' said Hermione smiling.

'You'd do that for me?' blinked Emma.

'Of course I would. We're friends aren't we?' she said giving Emma a hug.

'Thank you! But do you think your parents would be okay with having a vampire under their roof? I know you don't like to keep secrets from them. And I wouldn't want to be a burden.'

'A burden?' asked Hermione giggling. 'Dumbledore gives you your food and you don't need to sleep. How much of a burden could you be, really? Besides, I told you, they'll probably spend all summer trying to study your teeth.'

They both laughed quietly. It felt good to Emma to be having an honest one-on-one conversation with Hermione again. They really didn't get much time to do that since they'd become friends with Harry and Ron.

They kept talking for a bit longer, eventually going back to quick-fire revision questions until Hermione's yawning was getting distracting.

'Hermione, go to bed.' said Emma bossily.

'M'not tired...' yawned Hermione.

'Suuure.' laughed Emma.

Emma quickly picked up Hermione's work before she could protest and put them in a neat pile in front of her. As Hermione relented and started packing them away, Emma did the same with her own notes.

'You're going exploring again, aren't you.' said Hermione, grumpily. 'I really wish you wouldn't.'

'I know, Hermione.' sulked Emma. 'But I just can't sit in here for eight hours with nothing to do and no-one to talk to. I'd go mad.'

Hermione nodded, frowning. She didn't like it and she didn't quite understand it. If Hermione didn't need to sleep, she'd spend all that extra free time reading, but she knew Emma was far more active and needed to stretch her legs. Also, given the amount of time they'd been spending in the library and common room, they were all getting a bit restless, Emma most of all.

'Alright.' said Hermione grudgingly. 'Just... be careful, okay?'

'I will.' smiled Emma, giving Hermione a quick hug. 'Good night.'

Emma waited for Hermione to close the door to their dormitory before racing out of the portrait hole and straight down to the Forbidden Forest.

The past few times Emma had been in the forest, she hadn't gone in very far. Not only did she know that there were dangerous creatures to avoid, but she was also well aware that forests had a habit of making you lose your bearings. It was very easy to get lost and start going in circles.

Last Sunday, Emma did go in quite far, but she followed one of Hagrid's well worn paths. It was a bit of a disappointing journey as she didn't find much at all. Maybe a lot of creatures had learned to avoid his paths and with good reason, considering he never entered the forest without his huge crossbow.

Tonight, Emma had decided to follow another one of his paths, but that idea was quickly thrown out of the window. She had barely entered the forest when she was faced with a very strong and very unusual smell. She tried to place it, but it was entirely foreign to her and made her feel incredibly uneasy.

Trying to find the source of the smell was very difficult as it seemed to be everywhere, however, she assumed it must be coming from deeper in the forest, so she headed that way. It wasn't long before her sharp eyesight found something unusual in the distance. There, on the ground, were two small drops of a silvery substance. She bent down to smell it and was certain that it was the source, but there wasn't enough of it to be making such an overpowering plume over the forest. As she delved deeper, she came across more spots of silver, getting more frequent and larger. They seemed to be forming a direct path to, or rather from something and the smell was getting stronger.

Emma followed the path for a good ten minutes, very slowly. She had been feeling more uncomfortable the closer she got to the source. She thought that maybe she was walking into a trap. As she cleared the top of a small incline, she was faced with a shocking sight. In the small clearing in front of her was by far the most beautiful creature Emma had ever seen. It was a unicorn. A creature so similar to a horse, yet it was pure white, glowing faintly silver in the dark, with a long horn on it's head. It was lying on its side, unmoving, in a large pool of the silvery substance. Terrified, Emma realised it must be blood and the unicorn was probably dead.

Unusually, for seeing blood, she realised her vampire side was completely indifferent to the scene in front of her. Looking around, she didn't see another living creature, so she moved closer to see what had happened. Emma thought that she'd have to tell Hagrid about it, but he was still ignoring her because of Norbert, the stubborn giant.

As she got closer, she was sure it was dead. She couldn't hear a heartbeat or breathing. Stepping up to it and kneeling, avoiding the pool of blood as best she could, she put her hand on the creature's side and bowed her head. The whole scene horrified her. What could possibly do such a thing. She got two conflicting answers when she leaned forward to find its wound. The first immediately made her think vampire as there were four very obvious teeth marks on its neck. This confused her as the smell had absolutely no effect on her. The second answer came when the breeze shifted and she was suddenly hit with a splitting headache, blurred vision and hearing like she'd been plunged underwater. Even though she couldn't smell anything over the unicorn blood, she only knew one thing that had that effect on her.

' _Quirrell._ ' thought Emma.

Confused, Emma staggered backward, away from the unicorn as she covered her nose and mouth with her grey orphanage shirt to try to block the garlic. As she started to get more of her senses back, she heard rustling to her side. When she turned to the sound, she was shocked to find herself surrounded.

Emma recognised the creatures at once. Not only had she learned about them at Hogwarts, but also from Greek myths at middle school. They were Centaurs and they all had bows pointing directly at her.

She looked around at them, dropping her shirt from her nose and mouth, hoping the garlic had faded by now. As she was looking, one of the centaurs stepped forward slightly. He had a chestnut body and a red tail.

'Your kind is not welcome here.' he said, matter of factly.

'I'm sorry, sir.' stammered Emma, trying to remain calm and not really succeeding. 'I didn't know.'

One of the others, a wilder looking, black centaur reacted angrily at that and pulled back his bow slightly.

'Bane.' said the chestnut one forcefully to the wild one, before turning back to Emma. 'Has your coven not explained this to you?'

'Coven?' asked Emma. 'I... don't have one. I'm a student up at the castle.'

Bane reacted even more angrily at that.

'Then you _do_ know you shouldn't be here!' he spat, turning back to the chestnut centaur. 'Ronan, it should die. It killed a unicorn.'

'I didn't-' started Emma, but stopped.

Bane had pulled his bow all the way back with another angry look and Emma flinched away.

'Bane.' said Ronan again. 'We do not interfere, even with _beings_ such as that one.'

He stressed the word 'being' with clear revulsion.

'Leave this forest, now. If you return, you will die.'

'Yes, sir.' stammered Emma. 'I promise.'

A number of centaurs moved away, leaving a gap in the direction of the castle. At first Emma backed away slowly, but once she was no longer surrounded, she turned and ran as fast as she could.

Even after Emma had returned to the common room, she couldn't settle down. She started pacing in front of the fireplace, still shaking with adrenaline and tried to piece every bit of information together.

It was clear that centaurs hated vampires. Emma remembered that she already knew this from a part of her History of Magic revision. It said that centaurs had specifically asked the ministry to be referred to as Beasts, instead of Beings, because they didn't want to be associated with vampires or hags.

' _Well._ ' thought Emma, remembering Bane's reaction. ' _The feeling is mutual._ '

As for the unicorn, that was far more difficult to process. Professor Quirrell had at least been near that part of the forest and very recently. Perhaps, Emma thought, as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, it was his job to investigate that type of thing. Then again, she had trouble believing that. Firstly, it was far more likely that it was Hagrid's job, not Quirrell's, secondly, he was terrified of the forest, just like everything else and thirdly, the unicorn couldn't have been dead for very long. In fact, Emma couldn't think of a single reason why Quirrell would have been there. As for what killed the unicorn, Emma couldn't begin to guess. The centaurs certainly didn't do it and they thought Emma did, which may have been a good assumption, given the wound, if it wasn't for the fact that unicorn blood had no effect on her as a vampire.

Emma was still pacing when other Gryffindors started going to breakfast the following morning, staring at her confusedly. As soon as Hermione came down, Emma pulled her over and explained everything. She was speed talking and Hermione couldn't get a word in edgeways, not that she tried. She sat there, absorbing the information, looking more worried by the second.

Emma had barely finished and Hermione was still speechless when Professor McGonagall came into the common room. She looked livid.

'Miss Pearson.' she commanded. 'Follow me.'

Emma did as she was told. She got up quickly, giving Hermione a worried look and followed in silence. McGonagall was seething, radiating fury. Emma quickly realised they were heading to Dumbledore's office and her heart sank even more. For the first time in ages, she felt cold.

'Chocolate Limes.' said McGonagall to the gargoyle, though Emma barely noticed.

McGonagall then knocked on the doors to the headmaster's office and nearly pushed Emma inside when they heard a quiet 'Come in'.

Nothing had changed about the office since the last time, however, Emma didn't notice that either. She was too busy staring at Hagrid who looked even angrier than McGonagall, if such a thing were even possible.

The only one who didn't seem angry was Dumbledore himself, though he did look very serious. Emma's only comfort was that there wasn't a ministry official in the room, though she was sure that could be arranged.

'It has come to our attention,' said Dumbledore sternly. 'that you may have entered the forbidden forest last night. Is this true?'

Emma considered her options. Hagrid had obviously found the unicorn on his morning round. He was in his moleskin overcoat and still had his crossbow with him. Obviously he'd spoken to the centaurs, which is why Emma was here now. Lying was definitely not an option.

'Yes, professor.' said Emma, weakly. 'I did.'

'We have been told that, unfortunately, a unicorn was killed around the same time.'

'Yes, professor.' repeated Emma, nodding sadly, remembering the dead animal.

'We were also led to believe that it was you that killed it?' he said, in a questioning tone.

Emma looked at Dumbledore in shock. She wasn't surprised at the assumption, but surely he didn't really think she did it. She then looked at Hagrid and instantly regretted it. The way he looked at her made her sure that he did and Emma felt very hurt.

'No!' said Emma angrily, looking back at Dumbledore. 'No way! I did _not_ kill that unicorn! I found it. Just because I'm a-'

She stopped suddenly, looking at McGonagall and back again.

'Minerva is aware of your situation.' said Dumbledore, simply.

'Just because I'm a vampire, doesn't mean you can just blame me for that.' said Emma crying from her anger and hurt, looking at Hagrid. 'You of all people should know that!'

Hagrid looked taken aback for a moment before Dumbledore got Emma's attention again.

'You were found next to the creature and it's wounds are consistent with that of a vampire attack.'

'Found by centaurs and I've learned enough in History of Magic to know they hate vampires. Of course they'd assume it was me.' said Emma, trying not to shout and to keep her emotions down. 'I found the unicorn by following a blood trail leading away from it out of the forest to the castle. It was already dead when I got there. I don't even like the smell of unicorn blood, it felt wrong and certainly nothing like what you give me.'

Dumbledore ever so slightly raised an eyebrow.

'Perhaps you could illuminate us by telling your side of the story then?'

Emma nodded and sat on the floor, cross-legged. A calming tactic. She explained every single little detail that she could, from the blood trail, the unicorn's wound, to Bane drawing his bow.

'You didn't notice the centaurs due to the smell of garlic?' asked Dumbledore, after she had finished.

'Yes, professor. I'm allergic, or something. It gives me terrible headaches and I find it difficult to see, hear and breath.' said Emma holding her temples at the memories. 'It's only been a problem in Professor Quirrell's lessons. Other than that, I've never smelt it before, well, not since I've been a vampire anyway.'

At that McGonagall spoke for the first time, looking much less stern, maybe even motherly.

'You mean to say, you've been suffering in lessons all this time? Why didn't you say something?'

'I didn't know you knew about me.' said Emma, glaring a little at Dumbledore. 'And I don't want special treatment. Others might find out what I am, and I promised Professor Dumbledore that wouldn't happen.'

' _Never mind that I broke that promise months ago._ ' thought Emma, remembering the dreadful night she attacked Hermione.

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore exasperated and shook her head.

After a few minutes of quiet, Dumbledore spoke up. Emma felt like she was going to be sick from anticipation. Today had been terrible and it had barely started.

'Well, well. This is certainly a curious situation that will require further investigation.' he said, thoughtfully. 'Your information has been very illuminating, Emma. Thank you.'

'So you believe me? I'm not in trouble?' asked Emma, hopefully. 'For the unicorn, I mean?'

'For harming the unicorn, no, you are not in trouble, however, you did go out after curfew and into the forbidden forest, of all places.' said Dumbledore, his casual expression returning. 'As your head of house, it will be up to Minerva to decide your punishment.'

Emma couldn't help but feel that Dumbledore didn't care about breaking curfew, or that she went into the forest, however, McGonagall certainly did. She looked at McGonagall, expecting the worst.

'I must say, Miss Pearson, after speaking to your matron, I thought I would have to deal with another pupil as unruly as the Weasley twins. I expected to be in this position long before now and frequently. I find it incredibly unlikely that this is the first time you've broken curfew, however, I will give you the benefit of doubt this time.'

Emma braced herself. If McGonagall even knew about a twentieth of the times she'd broken curfew, she'd have been expelled on the spot. As she was thinking that, she saw Dumbledore smile pleasantly out of the corner of her eye.

'For breaking curfew, I will be taking fifty points from Gryffindor. As for entering the forbidden forest, you will receive a detention at a later date.'

All things considered, Emma felt like she'd gotten off very lightly. Then again, having never earned a single house point, trying to be an invisible nobody, her grand total contribution to Gryffindor was now minus fifty-five.

'I understand, Professor.' said Emma, lowering her head in shame.

'That will remain to be seen.' added McGonagall, sternly.

'Well, I believe that is all.' said Dumbledore, back to his cheery self. 'You may go now, Miss Pearson. We will find you if we have any further questions.'

'Uhm, Professor.' stammered Emma. 'I have a question, if I may?'

'Yes?' said Dumbledore, curious.

'I know I'm not a normal vampire, but if my sense of smell is, that would mean it wasn't a vampire that killed the unicorn. What else would drink its blood?'

'That is the question of the hour, is it not?' said Dumbledore, playfully and pausing a moment. 'Were someone to drink unicorn blood, it would keep them alive, even if they were close to death, however, from that moment on, they would have a cursed life, for slaying something so pure.'

' _Someone really desperate, then._ ' thought Emma to herself and nodding. Dumbledore smiled at her, as if he'd read her mind.

'Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall.' said Emma.

She moved to the door and took hold of the handle before turning to Hagrid. He'd not said a single word the entire time and he'd been so angry at her. She couldn't tell his emotion at the moment through his beard, but she couldn't forgive him yet. She hissed at him and left the office quickly, running at full speed to the common room.


	17. Chapter 17 - Sibling Payback

**Chapter 17 – Sibling Payback**

When Emma climbed through the portrait hole, she saw Hermione, Harry and Ron all waiting for her, eagerly, in the corner of the common room. She fell into a seat next to Hermione, leaned on the table and caught her breath, using it to delay the others and collect her thoughts.

'So?' asked Ron impatiently. 'What happened with McGonagall?'

'Everyone's been saying they've never seen her so mad.' added Harry.

There was a pause while Emma looked at Hermione. Thankfully, she looked far more concerned than angry. She knew she'd get a word or two later though. So much for promising to be careful.

'I went into the forest last night.' said Emma, lowering her head in shame. 'She found out.'

'You _what_?' shouted Ron in surprise, and got a lot of stares from around the room.

Emma flinched a little and Hermione glared at him.

'Why'd you go in the forest?' asked Harry, more reasonably.

'That's not important.' said Emma, trying to avoid more accusations, among other things. 'It's what I found while I was there.'

Emma explained, yet again, what happened in the forest, however, she obviously had to leave a lot out as the boys didn't know about her. It made the explanation seem a bit disjointed to her, but they didn't seem to notice.

'A centaur was going to kill you?-' squeaked Ron.

'Yes, but that doesn't matter either.' said Emma, brushing what he said away with her hand, trying not to get irritated. 'You're missing the point.'

'Go on.' said Hermione, calmly.

'Don't you see? Someone from the castle killed the unicorn and drank it's blood.'

'Did a vampire kill it?' asked Harry.

'No.' said Emma flatly, trying to keep calm. How many times would she have to go through this. 'I think Dumbledore would know if there were any vampires in the castle.'

Hermione coughed beside her, obviously trying to cover a laugh but the boys missed it, too busy thinking.

'Maybe it was Snape?' thought Harry out-loud.

Emma shook her head absent-mindedly at that, but it gave her an idea and she turned to Hermione. Given the other two were hopeless at observing their surroundings, they were unlikely to have noticed what she wanted to know.

'Did you see Quirrell at breakfast this morning?' she asked. 'How did he look?'

'Yes, he was there.' said Hermione, thinking. 'Now that you mention it, he did look better. Much better. What are you thinking?'

Emma quoted what Dumbledore had said to her about drinking unicorn blood verbatim.

'You see? Quirrell's been getting ill for months, and now, the day after a unicorn is found dead, he's all better?'

Hermione's eyes opened wide in realisation.

'He's after the stone!' she said, shocked.

'But we know Snape's after it?' interrupted Harry.

'I really don't think so.' said Emma. 'In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that Snape has never been after it at all.'

'But you were there in the forest when Snape was trying to get Quirrell to help him.' said Harry, confused.

'Was he, though?' asked Emma. 'He never said he wanted the stone. He only asked if Quirrell had gotten passed Fluffy and if he knew how to get passed the other enchantments.'

Harry shook his head slowly. It was clear that he wasn't able to accept that Snape wasn't involved.

'What about the first Quidditch match, where he tried to kill me?' said Harry, clutching at straws.

'Uhm...' thought Emma, trying to organise her chaotic thoughts. 'Give me a sec.'

She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to remember that first Quidditch match. She remembered Hermione grabbing the binoculars, to look over the stands. She also remembered noticing that Hermione started looking from left-to-right, which is why Emma looked right-to-left.

She heard one of the boys say something and get shushed by Hermione. Ignoring them, she went over her memories, trying to find Quirrell. She wondered why all her thoughts from back then were so muddy.

She eventually found him, sitting one row of seats down, just to the side of Snape. Her eyes opened immediately.

'Yes, Snape was trying to kill you, but so was Quirrell.' she said urgently, making the others jump. 'He was staring at you, unblinking and had his hands together, like he was praying, but I passed him over because Snape was chanting.'

'So they were both trying to kill me?' asked Harry, worried.

'I guess so.' said Emma. 'I mean, I'm not surprised Snape tried. It's no secret he hates you. I don't know why Quirrell would try, but he definitely was.'

Harry shook his head again. 'I still think Snape is involved with the stone. Maybe he poisoned Quirrell to get him to help as threats weren't working.'

'That's certainly a possibility.' said Hermione, thinking.

'I'm not too sure. I think we've been too eager to jump to conclusions from the start. Snape is so suspicious, I bet Quirrell's been using that to his advantage.' replied Emma, seeing Harry shake his head again. 'But you have a point. We still don't know why Quirrell was getting ill, and Snape is as good a suspect as any, being the potions master and everything.'

'Maybe they've been working together all this time, and what happened in the forest was just for show?' said Harry.

'So let's just keep an eye on both of them.' said Ron chiming in finally, essentially ending the discussion.

Emma was right about getting a few words from Hermione. As she thought, it was more out of concern than anger.

'You're going to have to earn those fifty points back.' she said, pointedly.

'How di-' asked Emma before being interrupted.

'We were by the hourglass when they were taken away.'

Emma hung her head again. Getting caught at Hogwarts was far worse than at the orphanage. There she'd basically just get shouted at, which was far easier to deal with than all the disappointment she'd been shown here, not least from Hermione.

'You're going to make it up to me.' said Hermione smiling conspiratorially.

'To you?'

'You lost all the points I've earned over the past two weeks.'

Realisation hit Emma then and Hermione knew it.

'You're not going to make me put my hand up in class, are you?' said Emma sulking.

'I am.' said Hermione, smirking. 'I know full well that points and detentions aren't going to affect you in the slightest.'

'But this will...' said Emma quietly, and Hermione nodded.

'Maybe you'll be more careful if you have to do this every time you get caught.'

'What?' said Emma, confused and hopeful. 'You're not going to stop me going out?'

'Of course not. I wouldn't be able to, even if I wanted to. You're tenacious when you put your mind to something, and I know it must get really dull in here by yourself every day. Just don't get caught again.'

'Thank you, Hermione, I'll try.' said Emma, nodding thoughtfully. 'I guess this must be what it feels like to have a big sister that actually cares.'

'So, is this what it feels like to have an impulsive little sister that's constantly causing trouble?' laughed Hermione.

'Constantly?' pouted Emma, trying not to giggle and failing.

The next week was pure torture for Emma. Hermione had stopped putting her hand up to answer questions and would instead poke Emma until she did. The attention itself would have been bad enough, but the teachers made a point of mentioning their surprise that she was finally joining in, making it so much worse. It didn't help that Hermione smiled gleefully every time Emma ducked her head, trying to hide in embarrassment, when she was given praise and house points. Her only consolation was that she didn't have to do it in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

As for Quirrell, Hermione was right. He looked a lot better than he did before, though as the week went by, his condition seemed to deteriorate again, much faster this time. A cursed life must be as bad as Emma thought it would.

As the week drew to a close, Emma had another worry plaguing her that she could no longer keep to herself. Transfiguration, a subject she had been struggling with since day one, was finally getting to her.

Deciding that it was about time to speak to Professor McGonagall about it, Emma went over to her office after potions on the Friday and knocked on the door.

'Come in.' said the professor. 'Ah, Miss Pearson, take a seat. What can I do for you?'

'I was wondering, Professor,' stammered Emma, sitting. 'if you might know why I'm so rubbish at Transfiguration spells. I mean... I still can't even turn a match silver.'

'Yes, that is something I've been meaning to discuss with you for some time.' said McGonagall, showing her rarely seen, motherly, head-of-house expression again. 'My colleagues and I have been following your progress this year with great interest.'

Emma looked up, curious, but let McGonagall continue.

'It is most unusual for the best academic achievers to be from a house other than Ravenclaw, and yet, you have been getting some of the best marks out of all the first-years, rivalled only by Miss Granger. I must say, I'm very proud of the both of you.'

'But...' continued Emma, knowing the professor wasn't finished, and wanting to avoid the praise.

McGonagall nodded, apprehensively.

'While you have no doubt shown an affinity towards magical theory, Professors Flitwick, Quirrell, Snape and myself have some worries about your practical ability.' she said, delicately. 'Professor Quirrell has told me that you have yet to cast a single spell successfully in his class, and I too have noticed this. Professor Flitwick said that you have only been able to cast the most basic of spells, and you often take longer than most to perform them.'

She looked a little weary, but kept talking.

'Professor Snape too, while usually very reticent about the progress of Gryffindor students, gave the impression that your performance in Potions left a lot to be desired. Though very recently he has told me that you are improving. He even seemed mildly impressed.' said McGonagall, looking curious, before continuing. 'My worry is that, Potions aside, your practical ability is not improving.'

Professor McGonagall finally stopped. It seemed to Emma like that had been rehearsed a little, and she finally understood the point her teacher was trying to make, without explicitly stating it.

'You think that, maybe, I'm a squib?' asked Emma, quietly.

'If I were not aware that you are a vampire, it would certainly be something to consider, however, you are, and I believe that that is the problem.'

'What?' asked Emma, wide-eyed and confused.

'You see, Miss Pearson, while vampires are certainly magical beings, and are therefore inherently resistant to it, the vast majority are unable to use magic themselves. Even those that can, aren't able to cast more than the most basic of spells.'

'I didn't know that.' said Emma, thinking.

'Yes, I'm not surprised. We don't normally cover vampires until the third year, and most books don't mention it because it's considered common knowledge.'

Emma nodded, realising the worry Professor McGonagall was having. She needed to show that she could do advanced magic, and that meant showing off a little, even though she never liked doing that, this week especially. It also meant revealing something that could get her in more trouble.

'Okay, Professor. I think I know what you're getting at.' said Emma, talking quickly, trying to get it over with. 'The reason I've been improving in Potions is because Professor Snape caught me making my potions wrong, on purpose, and he said he'd kick me out if I did it again.'

'I should think so!' said McGonagall sternly. 'Why in Merlin's name would you do such a thing?'

'Because I want to be invisible. The better I am, the more I'm noticed, the more likely someone will find out what I am.' said Emma defiantly. 'I've been doing the same in Charms, you know, doing the wand movements wrong.'

At that, Professor McGonagall shook her head, exasperated and disbelieving. 'But you've been very attentive this week?'

'I didn't want to. Hermione made me. To earn back the points I lost.' grumbled Emma. 'She thought it would do me more good than detentions.'

'I see.' said McGonagall, barely concealing a smirk, before recovering her composure. 'What about Defence Against the Dark Arts?'

'Garlic.' groaned Emma, trying to stop the throbbing in her temples whenever she thought about it.

'Yes, of course, you mentioned that before.' said McGonagall sympathetically. 'And Transfiguration? I do hope you've not been deliberately messing around in my class.'

'No, Professor, I haven't. I really haven't been able to cast any Transfiguration spells.'

'But you can perform Charms?'

'Yes, Professor.' said Emma, looking around the room. ' _Accio Book_ '

Professor McGonagall looked incredulously at Emma as a book that was sitting on a shelf at the back of the office flew into Emma's open right hand.

'That-' she said loudly, struggling to form words. 'is a fourth year spell! Merlin, how did you learn that.'

'I was doing my homework about a month ago when I noticed someone had left their books in the common room. When I checked them and saw one of them was the fourth-year charms book, I tried to learn as many spells as I could. I only managed to cast three of them successfully before others started going down to breakfast though, and I had to stop.'

Professor McGonagall lowered her head slightly and put her fingers on the bridge of her nose. This conversation had gone nothing like she had thought it would.

'So, you were able to learn three highly advanced charms in one night and you still have yet to cast a single transfiguration spell after nearly a whole year?'

'Yes, Professor.' sulked Emma.

'Have you been able to perform any Defence Against the Dark Arts spells?'

'Yes, Professor. I've learned all the spells from our textbook. I found the defensive and counter-curses easiest to learn, like charms. Most of the hexes were really difficult, though I got them in the end.'

McGonagall thought about everything that Emma had said and considered it.

'Now I see what you meant about not being a normal vampire.' said McGonagall. 'It is abundantly clear that you are capable of complex magic. I still believe, however, that it may be the reason why you are incapable of Transfiguration magic. Of course, I can't be certain.'

Emma nodded her head and sulked.

'Does that mean I'm not going to be able to get into the second year?' asked Emma. 'If I can't pass Transfiguration?'

'Normally, were a student to do poorly on all exams, and fail one, then they would be at risk of not returning, however, I am certain that with your academic ability, you won't have to worry about that. If you don't pass Transfiguration, we will certainly take your circumstances into consideration.'

'I was going to be aiming to get Acceptable on all my exams though, would that make a difference?'

'Miss Pearson, the exam results are private.' said McGonagall, irately. 'The only people who will know them, are the teachers and those you tell. There would be no reason to deliberately do worse than you are able.'

'Okay.' said Emma, feeling better. 'Thank you, Professor.'

'You're very welcome. Ten points to Gryffindor for your honesty,' said McGonagall, her stern look returning. 'however, I will be having a word with Professor Flitwick regarding your conduct in Charms, and don't forget you still have a detention to sit.'

Emma nodded her head, with conflicting emotions, before leaving the office.


	18. Chapter 18 - Ironic Detention

**Chapter 18 – Ironic Detention**

Emma started wandering toward the library, mulling over everything McGonagall had said. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings and was suddenly overcome by the smell of garlic, as if she'd just walked into a wall. Before she knew it, she was curled up on the floor, leaning against a wall with her hands clutching the side of her head.

She quickly put her robes over her nose again and wondered what was going on. At first she thought she was going the wrong way, but now that she was looking around, she was where she should be. So, it was Quirrell who was in an unusual place, and now she was paying attention, she could make out his stuttering in a room just down the corridor.

Curious, Emma crawled closer. What was he doing in this part of the castle, it was mostly disused classrooms.

'No – no – not again, please-' he stuttered.

Wondering who he was talking to, she trained all her attention on the room. Curse the garlic for making her hearing so bad.

'You _will_ do this for me!' hissed an unusual, raspy voice. 'Or else.'

That wasn't Snape. Emma had no idea who it might be.

'All right – all right -' stammered Quirrell.

Emma then heard a rustle of cloth and Quirrell strode out of the room, straightening his turban. He was so flustered he didn't see Emma sat on the floor near the door. She listened out for someone else leaving the room but nobody did. Chancing a look inside, in case they were still there, she saw no-one.

' _What on Earth?_ ' she thought.

Emma sat inside the room for a short while, trying to piece together what might have happened. When she put her robes back down, the garlic smell had mostly faded, however, in its place was the stench of rot and decay.

Eyes bulging, she realised what the garlic was for. It had nothing to do with repelling vampires, though it was certainly good for that, it was to cover up the smell of him dying. What could kill in such a horrible manner.

' _Not again._ ' repeated Emma to herself. 'He's going to kill another unicorn!'

Emma burst out of the room and ran straight to the gargoyle on the second floor, avoiding the route Quirrell was likely to have taken.

' _Uhm, what's the password?_ ' she thought to herself, going over her memories from the week before. 'Chocolate Limes.'

Emma really had to thank her vampire brain for keeping track of little details that she had either blocked out or was too busy to pay attention to.

She ran up the stairs to Dumbledore's office and knocked urgently on the door.

'Come in.' she heard, and burst in.

'Ahh, Miss Pearson, to what do I owe the pleasure?'

'Sir, I think another unicorn is going to be killed tonight.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment and gestured for Emma to sit at his desk.

'And why is that?' he asked, evidently curious.

Emma started to explain why she thought it was Quirrell that killed the previous unicorn.

'You see, he was getting ill for months, and suddenly he got better.' she said, talking fast. 'That and I know he was in the forest at around the same time.'

'That is a serious accusation, Miss Pearson. However, if you are correct in your assumption that he is ill, why would he not go to Madam Pomfrey?'

'Because he's dying.' she said before explaining what she had overheard, and smelt. 'And someone – or something, is forcing him to kill the unicorns.'

Emma thought really hard about whether or not she should mention the rest of her theory. It wouldn't just risk getting herself in more trouble, it would risk Hermione, Harry, Ron and even Hagrid too. She decided to go ahead, but to leave the others out as much as possible.

'I think he, and whoever is threatening him...' she stammered. 'Is after the Philosopher's Stone.'

Emma waited barely a second, expecting a reaction from Dumbledore, but his eyes were still passive and thoughtful. She carried on quickly, desperate to make her case known.

'I overheard Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell in the forest talking about it.' she said, hoping Dumbledore would think that's how she found out. She didn't want to get Hagrid in trouble. 'I'm sure Professor Snape would agree with me, that Quirrell wants the stone. To save himself, and for this other... person.'

She continued explaining more evidence. Things like Quirrell trying to kill Harry at the Quidditch match and how Harry had seen Quirrell in Diagon Alley the same day Gringotts was broken into. The same day Harry witnessed the stone being removed.

She finally stopped for breath, wondering if she'd left anything out, and stopped pacing. She didn't even realise she had gotten out of the chair. Dumbledore's expression was still quite light hearted, but Emma could see him considering it.

'Well, well.' he said, chuckling a little. 'You and your friends have been quite busy, haven't you. Your theory is well thought out, and appears very solid. Ten points to Gryffindor for bringing this to my attention. I will certainly look into it.'

'Oh!' said Emma, remembering one more thing. 'I also think he released the troll on Hallowe'en. I was reading Hermione's Defence Against the Dark Arts notes, and the ones on trolls were far more detailed than normal, even by Hermione's standards.'

He nodded infinitesimally. Emma thought he already knew that, and she noticed him smile a little.

'Ahh yes, Miss Granger. I presume she has been lending you her notes because of your aversion to garlic?'

So, he knows that Hermione knows. Of course he does. He seems to know everything that goes on in the school. Nearly everything, anyway. She wondered what might happen to her, now that she had been directly accused of breaking her promise, but it's been months and he'd never brought it up before, so she must not be in much trouble.

'Yes, Professor... You're not mad?'

'I told you, Miss Pearson, that it would be out of my hands. It is now between you and Miss Granger.'

Emma nodded absent-mindedly, not quite sure what Dumbledore meant by that.

'Now, if we are finished.' he said quietly. 'I'm really very busy and must be getting back to work. I will make sure that your suspicions are investigated fully.'

'Okay, Professor. Thank you, for listening to me. Goodbye.'

Emma walked down passed the gargoyle thinking that that couldn't have gone much better. Nobody was in trouble, except maybe Quirrell. Now she had to tell Hermione, Harry and Ron what she'd done, and she didn't know how they were going to take it. She made her way to the library as quick as she could, knowing they'd still be there. She slipped in and found them sitting at the usual table, and sat down on the empty seat.

'We need to talk.' said Emma, seriously, before the others could even say hello, and glanced around the room. 'Privately.'

She got up and walked to the library entrance, waiting for the others to pack up their things in confusion. When they finally started making their way toward her, she lead the way to a more secluded part of the floor, near where the mirror used to be kept. She entered a disused classroom and then shut the door behind the others.

'Sit down.' said Emma, worried now. 'I don't think you're going to like what I've got to say.'

'What is going on?' demanded Ron, clearly irritated.

'I told Dumbledore.' whispered Emma, hoping the other three wouldn't hear.

'Told him what?' asked Hermione, concerned about how her friend was acting.

'Everything.' replied Emma.

'What do you mean, everything?' asked Harry.

Grudgingly, Emma began talking. She started with what she heard Quirrell and his accomplice say and then she finished with most of the meeting with Dumbledore. She made a point of mentioning that she tried to make sure all the blame landed on herself, and kept the others out as much as possible.

When she was only met with silence, she worried that they'd taken it badly.

'Did I do the right thing?'

'Yes!' said Hermione emphatically. 'We should have gone to him from the very beginning.'

'But we didn't have any proof.' said Harry, subdued. 'We still don't.'

'Better a detailed theory than nothing.' replied Hermione. 'If nothing else, it might make him improve the security on the stone.'

Harry nodded, seeing her point.

'You could have gotten us in trouble.' said Ron, indignantly.

'I know.' sighed Emma. 'But I couldn't let Quirrell kill another unicorn...'

The death of the unicorn the week before had affected Emma more than she was willing to admit. She kept remembering the scene when she least expected it, and she was sure that if she could still sleep, it would be giving her nightmares.

'So what are we going to do now?' asked Harry.

'We go back to our revision and let Dumbledore deal with it.' said Hermione, matter of factly. 'It's not our problem any more.'

They all nodded and started making their way to the common room before curfew.

'Oh, Hermione.' said Emma smiling finally. 'You can stop with the game of torture-your-little-sister. I'm all caught up now. McGonagall and Dumbledore both gave me ten points, so there.'

She stuck her tongue out at Hermione, childishly, for emphasis, which made Hermione burst out laughing.

'As long as you've learned your lesson.' she said, impishly.

The Exams were now so close, Emma felt as if she might be able to touch them. They'd gotten back to the common room and started working in the corner. Everyone else must have been thinking the same thing as the common room was eerily quiet.

Just as Emma thought that she could finally put all her attention toward revision, she heard the tell-tale beat of owl feathers outside the window. She got up quickly, making a few people jump, and went to open the window. A second later, a small dark brown owl flew in and landed on the table they were working on.

'How does she do that?' exclaimed Ron.

'Magic.' said Hermione sarcastically and frowned.

At that, Harry choked on his drink, laughing.

'Who's it for?' asked Emma, pretending she hadn't heard their exchange and sat back down as Hermione took the letter.

'You.' she replied, passing it over as the owl flew back out the window.

Emma opened the note.

 _Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall._

 _Prof. M. McGonagall_

She read it through a couple of times and then passed it to Hermione. The irony wasn't lost on her.

''For going out after hours, she's giving you a detention... to go out after hours.' said Hermione, incredulous. 'What is she thinking?'

'She's barmy.' laughed Ron.

Emma just shrugged.

That night, Emma made her way down to the entrance hall to meet Mr Filch. She'd sneaked down as she normally did, hiding her presence with her ability. It was more out of habit than anything else, so when she'd gotten into the hall and announced herself, Filch jumped. As unintentional as it had been, it still took her a lot of effort not to laugh.

'Follow me,' said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading her outside. 'I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?' he continued, leering at her. 'Oh yes …'

Emma just ignored him. He was always droning on about the _old punishments_. Instead she wondered where they were going. It seemed to be toward Hagrid's hut, but that didn't make sense.

'Where exactly am I serving my detention, sir?' she said interrupting him, mid sentence.

'It's into the forest you're going.' he sneered.

'Wonderful.' said Emma, sarcastically.

She was sure she told Dumbledore and McGonagall that the Centaurs had said that if she returned, they'd kill her. What were they thinking?

'Afraid, are you?' smirked Filch, at her confused expression.

'Hardly.' drawled Emma. 'Going into the forest is what got me this detention in the first place.'

Filch actually looked a little put-out. His whole punishment spiel was well rehearsed and never had a first-year so casually shrugged it off, except maybe the Weasley Twins.

'Is that you, Filch?' called out Hagrid. 'Hurry up, I want ter get started.'

So she was going into the forest with Hagrid. That shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but Emma wasn't sure what to think. She and Hagrid hadn't really seen eye-to-eye the past few weeks, and the last time she saw him, she hissed at him.

'Abou' time,' he said to Filch. 'I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Emma?'

Filch and Hagrid started a bit of a heated discussion, so Emma ignored them, looking into the forest. She breathed in and she could already smell unicorn blood.

' _What was the point in telling Dumbledore if he didn't do anything?_ ' thought Emma, angrily, before she was interrupted by Hagrid.

'I'm sorry,' he stammered. 'Abou' thinkin' you murdered... and...'

Emma looked at him and he definitely did look sorry, even if she could barely see his face. His body language was obvious. She felt a little anger toward him, but if she was honest with herself, she'd forgiven him the moment she hissed at him last week.

'Forget about it, Hagrid. I understand. You lost Norbert. That must have been difficult.' she said, waving away his apology. 'I'm more concerned that you want me to go in there, with the Centaurs.'

'Oh, they won' hurt you if yer with me.'

'I think you underestimate just how much they hate vampires, Hagrid.' said Emma.

Hagrid was particularly unreliable when it came to assessing how dangerous something was. She thought it must be a Giant-thing, but they had more important things to do.

'Anyway, let's find this unicorn.'

Hagrid looked taken aback and stared at her questioningly.

'I can smell it from here.' said Emma, wrinkling her nose.

Hagrid nodded and picked up an unlit lantern. He pulled out a matchbox to light it when Emma stopped him.

'Please, don't.' she said. 'I see better without it.'

It was clear when they entered the forest that Hagrid was uncomfortable without the lantern so Emma ended up taking the lead, given her excellent night-vision. She laughed at herself, mockingly, when she realised that she was basically only there to be a sniffer dog.

They'd had gone quite some distance when they reached a fork in the path. It was their first sighting of unicorn blood, only it was on both paths. It was clear the unicorn had been wounded, and had fled this way, but they couldn't tell which direction it went.

'We should split up.' said Hagrid. 'We can cover more ground.'

'I hate to be selfish, but, you said the centaurs won't kill me if I'm with you... If we split up, I won't be with you.' rushed Emma, worried.

'It'll be fine. Jus' tell 'em yer with me and they'll leave yeh alone.'

'Fine.' said Emma flatly, taking the left fork. 'But if I die, it's your fault.'

Hagrid pretended not to notice that comment, and just started to light his lantern. Before it could blind her, Emma started running, following her path.

Emma had slowed down once Hagrid was out of sight as she felt uneasy. It was much like before, though the drops of silver blood were fewer and further between. She still couldn't tell if the unicorn had been coming or going. It must have been moving very fast though.

After a good twenty minutes, deep in the forest, she knew she'd taken the correct route. There was a large spattering of blood on the trees ahead of her, and the amount of blood on the floor had increased dramatically. She knew the unicorn must have been struck by something here. As she followed on, knowing it couldn't have gotten much further, she started getting a headache. It must be garlic, but it was very weak. So, Quirrell was around here somewhere, or he had been recently.

As Emma suspected, the trail didn't go on much further. It seemed to have pooled just at the entrance of another open area. It looked like it had fallen there, and was then dragged into the clearing. Emma focussed on not being noticed and looked around one of the trees. To her horror, she found Quirrell, drinking from the unicorn. She couldn't help but think that that is probably what she would look like drinking from a human. Unsettled, she was going to turn around to find Hagrid, because there was no way she could take on Quirrell alone, when a voice rang out through the clearing.

'Come out little vampire. I know you're there.'

It was Quirrell's voice, completely free of a stutter. In fact, he seemed mildly amused. Emma considered her options quickly, and decided it would be best to show herself. She could delay Quirrell from leaving, and Hagrid would get here soon enough. She let herself be noticed and walked into the clearing.

'Well, well. Miss Pearson. Are you out for a midnight snack?' said Quirrell, smirking at her.

'As a matter of fact, yes, I was.' snarled Emma. 'Until you stunk up the place with... that thing. How am I going to find something to drink now?'

She was angry that he'd managed to kill another unicorn, so building on that would make a more convincing lie. That and it was exhilarating to play the role of an annoyed hungry vampire.

'Yes, well. It was necessary.' he said, looking uneasy for once.

'Yes, it's all about you isn't it.' shouted Emma, focusing her anger. 'Do you have any idea how hard you've made this year for me, with the garlic? And then, to top it off, you go and kill a unicorn, get me caught, and now Dumbledore is threatening to hand me over to the ministry! I don't care what your reasons are!'

Emma was amazed at how easily the hurt, anger and lies slipped off the tongue.

' _Maybe I really would have made a good Slytherin._ ' she thought to herself, errantly.

'It's all a matter of perspective, little one.' said Quirrell silkily. 'It's not for me, it's for my master.'

'And...?' she said, blankly. 'How does that help me?'

'Because,' hissed the unusual raspy voice, from behind Quirrell. 'when I return, you will be free to hunt wherever you please, instead of scrounging for scraps.'

'And you are?' said Emma, curious.

This whole situation was conflicting for Emma. On the one hand, she was terrified, Quirrell could kill her at any moment, but on the other, she might finally be getting some answers. The old adage of cats and curiosity seemed to be very appropriate right now.

She heard a whispering and then Quirrell started turning his back on her as he took off his turban. She was shocked when she saw that on the back of Quirrell's head was another face.

'I am Lord Voldemort.' hissed the face, proudly.

Emma knew that name immediately. She'd been around Harry and his scar long enough to hear the story multiple times, even while trying not to eavesdrop.

She was about to ask whether he was the reason Quirrell was after the stone, but Quirrell and Voldemort reacted to something nearby and started to run from the clearing. At the same time, Emma heard an odd sound from behind her, and a weird whooshing noise. A moment later, Emma felt a force hit her in the back, knocking her forward a step, along with an incredibly sharp pain that continued through her body and out through her chest. When she looked down, there was an arrowhead sticking out of the upper part of her ribcage.

The centaurs had managed to ambush her again, and even Quirrell was afraid of them.

' _Okay, stay calm._ ' she thought, instantly panicking.

At first, the pain was quite bearable, but when her legs fell from underneath her and she fell to her knees, the shaft of the arrow shifted slightly and made the pain blinding. The amount of blood flowing from her chest wasn't helping either.

The first thing she did was grab her wand, which was held in place on her left thigh by her stockings, and threw red sparks into the sky, just as Hagrid had told her to. The next task was to assess the damage. Her heart was still beating, too fast, but it was fine. She could still breath, so the arrow had missed her lungs. Emma tried to remember the few lessons on anatomy from middle school and the only things she could think of that were around the heart and lungs were a lot of incredibly important arteries. So that's why she was getting so dizzy so quickly.

She needed to get the arrow out of her so that she could heal. She considered pulling the arrowhead, but given how much pain a small nudge caused and how light headed she was becoming, she thought she'd just cause more damage.

Thankfully, she'd guessed right that Hagrid would already be on his way. She heard and felt him crashing through the forest toward her less than thirty seconds later.

'Emma!' he shouted as he got closer and saw the state she was in.

It certainly wasn't a pretty sight. While the flow of blood from her wounds had slowed somewhat, she was still kneeling in a small pool of her own blood.

'Told you... they'd kill me.' winced Emma.

'I need to get you to the hospital wing!' said Hagrid, moving closer to pick her up.

'Don't... you dare.' she said, loudly, making him stop dead. 'Get this out of me... or you'll just make it worse!'

'But if I take it out, you could die.' stammered Hagrid who was also beginning to panic a little.

'Hagrid... I'm a vampire... I'll heal.'

Hagrid nodded and quickly moved round behind Emma, using one hand to steady the shaft of the arrow, and ripped off the fletching. She was thankful that he didn't just snap the end off, she didn't fancy having splinters of wood break off inside her. Hagrid then came round the front, pressed one of his huge hands against her chest, around the wound and gave her a pained look.

Emma was losing consciousness, but she still managed to shut her eyes tightly and nod. Hagrid pulled the arrow out in one swift motion. The pain was so intense that Emma momentarily became fully alert, screaming in agony, but then she quickly passed out.


	19. Chapter 19 - Pensieve

**Chapter 19 – Pensieve**

Emma gasped awake with a strong sense of deja vu. She was lying on a large, lumpy surface looking up at the ceiling. It looked like she was in Hagrid's hut. The heavy, ragged breathing and large beating heart to her side, out of sight, certainly sounded like him. It took a few moments for her to remember why she was here and she sat up, slowly, and looked down at herself.

Her eyes bulged at the sight. Her hands, blouse, skirt, stockings and shoes were covered in blood, so much so that they looked like they had been dyed dark red. She then looked at her chest, where the arrow had been and saw a large hole in her blouse, where the arrow had pierced it.

' _Mrs Cole is going to kill me._ ' she thought, sticking her fingers through the hole.

Emma then got up quickly, noticing she had been lying on Hagrid's bed, and stood up beside it. She instantly realised that was a bad idea as she got hit by a sudden wave of dizziness and she ended up falling back onto the bed.

Emma huffed indignantly. She felt so weak, though that was hardly surprising given that all the blood on her clothes was her own. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was confused as to why she wasn't in a frenzy right now.

She lifted her stained hand up to her nose and smelt it. It was definitely blood, but there was something wrong about it. She supposed vampire blood wasn't appealing, or nutritious, maybe to avoid cannibalism or something.

A shift in movement to her side grabbed her attention now, and she looked then at Hagrid. She thought she could see confusion and horror in his wide eyes. It looked like he'd been crying. Emma shook her head at him in annoyance.

'Yer alive...' he gasped, finally.

'Of course.' said Emma flatly, keeping her emotions in check. 'I told you I'd heal.'

'But... yer heart stopped. You died.' he said quietly.

'Really?' asked Emma, curious, despite herself. 'Then Hermione was right, the troll did kill me... Is that why I'm here, and not in the hospital wing?'

Hagrid nodded at her, shocked and speechless. She was being so blasé about this.

Emma looked at Hagrid after a moment. This whole event seemed to have turned him into a wreck, but Emma couldn't afford to pity him yet.

'So...' she said demandingly.

He seemed to know what she was after, and he started sobbing again and he apologised, profusely, for letting Emma go alone in the forest, and for ignoring her warnings until he was incoherently babbling. It was really quite the apology, but Emma wanted to make sure he had learned his lesson.

'You can apologise all you like, Hagrid, but until you realise we're not all as indestructible as you, it's meaningless. It'll just happen again.'

She paused, letting him absorb what she was saying.

'At least it was me this time. What if it had been Harry? He's not half-giant, or a vampire. He's just a fragile human. And I'm sure you remember Norbert putting Ron in the hospital for days after it bit him.'

Emma knew she'd hit a nerve when she mentioned Harry. Hagrid was fond of him most of all, having known his parents. He shook his head a little and sobered up, looking at Emma again, then nodded.

'Good.' said Emma, bossily. 'Now, I'm going to have to get back before anyone sees me like this.'

She stood up again and was hit with another dizzy spell. She fell back on the bed and shook her head.

'Eurgh.' she moaned.

Hagrid got up and picked something out of a cupboard and passed it to Emma. It was the same white ceramic bottle she gets in her trunk. She just looked between the bottle and Hagrid, confused.

'So it's you that's been getting the blood for me!' she exclaimed, finally, suddenly feeling very guilty for having had a go at him. 'Thank you!'

'Don' mention it.' said Hagrid, having recovered his composure. 'It was jus' getting thrown away 'til you got 'ere, so...'

Emma nodded and warmed the bottle up with her wand and then looked awkwardly at Hagrid. She'd never drunk in front of anyone before. She felt like it was something very private and personal.

Hagrid noticed her awkwardness and mirrored it, suddenly deciding to busy himself around the hut, keeping his back to her.

If she still lost control, she wouldn't have been able to risk drinking with him here, however, she hadn't really lost control for over two months now. That and she'd just made a point of calling Hagrid indestructible.

She downed the bottle and lay back on the bed, feeling the warmth strengthen her. She could have laid there for hours, but it would be dawn soon and she needed to get back. She said goodbye to Hagrid, not having completely forgiven him yet, but she wasn't angry any more.

When she entered the common room, Emma saw Hermione asleep on the sofa where they had been working earlier, her notes still strewn over the table. Emma chuckled to herself quietly. She wasn't sure if Hermione had stayed up for her, or had just fallen asleep while working. Both were equally likely at this point.

Emma made her way toward Hermione, to wake her up, but she was already stirring.

'Emma?' she asked, groggily, before sitting up.

Hermione took in Emma's appearance, and Emma was somewhat hurt that the first emotion visible on her face was fear, but, given that she was a vampire, covered in blood, she let it slide. That the next emotion was concern, having seen the hole in Emma's blouse, helped too.

' _What happened?_ ' she squeaked.

'It's a long story.' said Emma, sitting beside Hermione. 'Short version is, I died again.'

'You _died_?' mouthed Hermione. She seemed to have lost her voice.

Sighing a little, Emma recounted everything. She surprised herself when she got to the part where the arrow had pierced through her chest, when she realised she was shaking, and had even started crying. Up until the retelling, the whole experience didn't feel very real, like she was just an observer, but now it felt all too real, and she could remember every little detail. For the first time, Emma felt truly broken. She tried to be strong with Quirrell, and with the arrow, but she was still just a child. Even as a vampire she could only take so much.

At some point during the talk, Hermione had taken one of Emma's bloody hands and held it in her own, trying to keep Emma calm. She remembered the first time Emma died better even than Emma herself, and it had taken them both quite a while to get passed it.

'You should go to Dumbledore.' said Hermione when Emma had finished. 'If you-know-who is after the stone, he must be stopped.'

Emma nodded and was about to stand. 'I just want to... clean up... before anyone sees me.'

'No.' rushed Hermione, pulling Emma's hand to keep her sitting. 'I think it will be more impactful if he sees you like this.'

Emma nodded, unsure. 'Can you come with me? I don't think I could go through that again by myself.'

'Of course.' she said, eyes softening.

It was a mark of just how bad things were when Hermione didn't even mention that it was still at least two more hours until curfew was over.

Emma led Hermione through the castle toward Dumbledore's office, taking it slow and keeping an ear out. Even though Hermione hadn't mentioned curfew, she was still visibly nervous about breaking the rules, and not having the invisibility cloak, or Emma's ability to hide, wasn't helping.

Emma on the other hand was getting more and more relaxed. Going through the castle unseen was second nature to her now, and they made it to the gargoyle with ease.

Emma said the password, glad Dumbledore hadn't changed it yet and they both went up and knocked on the door. At first there was no response, so they knocked again, harder.

A few moments later, Dumbledore opened the door and he was wearing some sort of full length night gown and a night-cap. Evidently he'd been asleep.

Hermione spoke first, for which Emma was thankful. If she started talking, she'd either start shouting or crying.

'Sorry to bother you, Professor, but we really have to talk.'

'Certainly, my dears. Do come in. What seems to be the trouble.'

At that, Emma stepped out of the shadows and into the light from the office. She watched as Dumbledore's eyes popped in surprise. It took him so long to recover his usual light-hearted exterior that Emma was sure even Hermione had caught it.

'We know that it's Quirrell that is after the stone, and we know why.' said Hermione, before she explained what happened.

Emma occasionally added details that Hermione forgot or missed out, but mostly kept quiet.

'You're angry?' asked Dumbledore to Emma after a few moments of silence.

She shook her head at him. She was passed angry now, just upset.

'I am sorry,' he said sincerely. 'I believed Hagrid and yourself could either stop the attack on the unicorn, or save it. However, I underestimated the threat, and that is my fault.'

'And what about Emma dying?' said Hermione, raising her voice.

'Hagrid assured me that Miss Pearson would be safe with him.'

'And you believed him?' she asked, incredulous. 'Hagrid is wonderful, definitely, but he thought he could raise an illegal dragon in his hut, and keeps a giant three-headed dog. His definition of safe is woefully inadequate.'

'Yes, well...' he said, thinking. 'I will talk to him later.'

'Don't bother.' interrupted Emma. 'I already did. I think he got the message.'

Dumbledore nodded then, pausing a moment before continuing.

'So, you believe Voldemort is the one controlling Professor Quirrell?'

'I know he is, Professor. He said so himself.'

Dumbledore pondered for another few moments before seemingly changing the subject.

'Professor McGonagall tells me that you are quite capable with Charms spells.' he said, his mood brightening somewhat.

'A little, I guess.' replied Emma.

'Emma.' chided Hermione, rolling her eyes. 'She learned the summoning, severing and healing fourth-year charms, all in one night. She's better than _capable_.'

Emma ducked her head again, embarrassed, and Hermione just giggled.

'Excellent.' beamed Dumbledore, pretending to miss their exchange. 'Then have either of you heard of something called a Pensieve?'

Hermione's hand shot up, as if she were in class, which made Emma laugh, and it was Hermione's turn to be embarrassed. She blushed before answering anyway.

'It is a vessel used to review memories.'

'Exactly, Miss Granger.' he smiled.

He got up to get a book from one of his many shelves, opened it to a specific page and passed the book to the two of them.

'Please, read that page.'

'A spell to extract a memory?' asked Emma. 'You want to see my memory of Voldemort?'

'Yes, my dear.' he said. 'We shall all review it together.'

Emma read through the page once. It seemed fairly straight forward. Just focus intently on a memory and then imagine it being pulled out by the wand. Emma was worried it would remove the memory, but the book explicitly stated that it would leave the original intact.

It took her a few tries before she managed to extract it. In fact, Hermione managed to accomplish it first. Dumbledore offered Emma a glass when the memory started coming out, attached to the tip of her wand. She thought it looked like luminous, bluey-silver snot.

Emma and Hermione followed Dumbledore across the room and watched as he took the Pensieve out of a cupboard. He then put it on a special pedestal before dropping in Emma's memory.

'What now?' asked Emma, confused.

'Move your head toward the bowl. You will feel as if you are falling, however, it will pass quickly enough.'

Emma did as she was told and she knew what Dumbledore meant immediately. Her body wasn't moving, but she felt her consciousness get sucked into the Pensieve and she fell until she found herself in the forest. Everything seemed to be shimmering as if it were made of mist, or smoke.

She looked around and saw herself following the blood trail, slowly. It was amazing, but also very creepy.

After a moment, she was joined by Hermione and Dumbledore. Both of them had looks of wonder on their faces. This was certainly Hermione's first time experiencing a Pensieve, so her expression was understandable. Reading and doing were two very different things. Dumbledore on the other hand must have done this hundreds of times, so he was more difficult to fathom.

'It's all so detailed!' gasped Hermione. 'I read that memories in Pensieves are usually very cloudy.'

'You are quite correct, Miss Granger.' said Dumbledore, looking around. 'This is without a doubt the most detailed memory I have ever witnessed. Remarkable.'

'The book said to remember as clearly as possible.' frowned Emma, awkwardly.

'Is this how you see, all the time?' asked Hermione, curious.

'When it's dark, yeah.' said Emma, nodding.

'You know, Emma. I get more and more jealous of you every day.' she smiled.

Emma didn't know what to say to that, and luckily, Dumbledore interrupted them.

'It seems you have found something.' he said, indicating ahead at the pool of blood where the unicorn had been struck.

They witnessed the rest of the memory, all the way until Emma blacked out when Hagrid removed the arrow. Hermione had tears in her eyes, and Emma had pointedly looked away, not wanting to watch her own death again. Dumbledore too looked very troubled. Once the memory had faded, they all found themselves standing around the Pensieve again.

'I would like to keep this memory, Miss Pearson, if I may?' asked Dumbledore.

'Of course, Professor.'

'Thank you, now, I shouldn't have to tell either of you that it would be very dangerous for everyone should this news of Voldemort get out.'

They both nodded at him. 'Yes, Professor.'

'Good. Then I believe you both should return to your studies before you are missed.' he said, before remembering Emma's current horrific appearance. 'Of course, you can't return like that.'

Dumbledore pointed his wand at Emma and all of the blood vanished from her clothes and hands. Apart from the hole in her blouse, and messy hair, she looked as good as new.


	20. Chapter 20 - Exams, Finally

**Chapter 20 – Exams, Finally**

The next few days went by mostly without incidents. The exams were less than a week away so homework had stopped being handed out, only to be replaced with more revision. Not needing to revise as much as anyone else, given that she could remember most of her notes by heart, Emma went back to exploring every night. She had also been taking extra special care since Hermione's torture.

It was a Wednesday night, a few hours after their Astronomy lesson had finished and Emma was sitting up on the seventh floor of the castle, under a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. He had apparently earned the moniker for trying to teach trolls ballet, but that wasn't why she was here. It was because this part of the castle was hiding something.

All along this corridor there were portraits and tapestries lining the walls, except where Emma sat. In this segment of the corridor, separated by pilasters, was Barnabas' lone tapestry and the opposite wall segment was blank. It was so obviously a place for a hidden door, but it had resisted all her attempts to divine it. She had asked some of the nearby portraits, tapped the wall in various places and she had even tried saying different phrases to the tapestry, all to no avail.

She sat there, under the tapestry, facing the blank wall, occasionally glaring and hissing at it, getting more and more frustrated. She'd tried all of her recent ideas and none of them had worked. She was about to give up and try her luck elsewhere when she heard footsteps approach her. It was roughly four o'clock in the morning in a very secluded part of the castle, so nobody should be around.

Emma had just made herself not noticeable when Quirrell rounded the corner. She had no idea why he was still in the castle. It made her wonder what Dumbledore was doing. Had she not proven his guilt with her memory.

'You can't hide from me, little one.' he smirked.

'What do _you_ want?' asked Emma, exasperated, before pulling her t-shirt over her nose.

'To offer you a deal.' he said silkily, moving forward.

Emma's eyebrows raised at him in curiosity before she held up her hand, palm toward him.

'If you want me to be able to listen, keep your distance.' she said angrily. 'Don't know why I should listen anyway, after all you've put me through. You know, you nearly got me killed last time.'

Quirrell stopped and then looked at her expectantly. Emma wasn't sure what to do. She was scared and she was afraid to show it. He seemed to want something from her, most likely because she was a vampire. That could be the only reason to approach her. Maybe she'd been persuasive enough with her lies last time to make Quirrell think she could be trusted, so she decided, again, to play the role of wronged, independent vampire, to get more answers, and more evidence to give to Dumbledore.

'Fine.' she said, feigning boredom. 'What do you want?'

'I want you to kill Harry Potter.'

As much as Emma knew it was a stupid thing to do, she laughed at him. Both aspects of herself found it incredibly funny. The persona that she'd fallen into mocked him for thinking she would do it, especially after she'd already told him that Dumbledore was considering giving her to the ministry. Emma also thought he must be getting very desperate indeed if he was trying to get a child to do his dirty work, albeit a vampire child.

'Some deal.' mocked Emma, sarcastically. 'I kill Potter and the ministry executes me. You must think so little of me.'

'Once Potter is out of the way, and I have gotten what I came for, you may come with us. We will protect you. You will be free to feed wherever you wish.' he said, smoothly. 'You won't be here for long, either way. The school will be throwing you out for being a squib, or maybe Dumbledore will give you to the ministry anyway.'

Emma had to admit, the persona she was playing would probably consider the deal, if it wasn't to kill Harry, but she knew better. Quirrell was dying, and once Voldemort got hold of the stone, his death was certain. He was nothing more than a tool to Voldemort, a means to an end. It would be the same for Emma.

'So, I kill Potter, you get the Philosopher's Stone, and we all live happily ever after?'

Quirrell's eyes bulged and his calm exterior faded, suddenly worried.

'What?' smiled Emma, happy at his confusion. 'You thought you were alone when Snape confronted you in the forest? And you said I couldn't hide from you.'

His expression returned to normal with some difficulty, but Emma spoke again before he could reply.

'I'll think about it. It would be nice to try human blood for once.' she mused, calmly. 'What is my deadline?'

'The evening on the last day of the exams.' replied Quirrell, finally smirking again before returning the way he had come. 'I look forward to your answer.'

' _He's so gullible._ ' thought Emma. ' _No wonder Voldemort managed to possess him._ '

Emma felt better after that discussion than the previous one. At least she was still alive. She stayed where she was, letting her adrenaline run its course and processed what happened.

She needed to get the memory to Dumbledore as soon as possible, so Emma made her way to the gargoyle on the second floor, but the password had been changed. The next choice was Professor McGonagall, but that would have to wait until morning.

Emma made her way to McGonagall's office and sat outside. She waited until about ten minutes passed six, listening intently to the clock in the office before she knocked on the door. McGonagall was already moving about her room so the door opened almost immediately, and she looked as stern as ever. She made a point of checking the clock on the wall after seeing that it was Emma at the door.

'What seems to be the trouble, Miss Pearson?' she asked, letting Emma in and indicating for her to sit.

'I need to get a message to Professor Dumbledore, Professor. It's urgent. I tried to deliver it last night, but I wasn't able to get into his office because he changed the password.'

'Yes, he changes it frequently.' said McGonagall, looking suspicious. 'Why don't you owl it to him?'

'It's not that kind of message, Professor.' said Emma.

She summoned an empty flask from across the room before extracting the memory and dropping it into the glass.

'Professor Dumbledore needs to see this as soon as possible.' pleaded Emma. 'Please, it's urgent.'

'This is most peculiar.' scowled McGonagall, still suspicious. 'What exactly is so important about that memory?'

Emma wasn't sure what to say. She would have lied, but felt that the truth would probably be more persuasive.

'It's a memory of Professor Quirrell asking me to kill Harry.'

McGonagall's shocked expression lasted longer than Emma thought it would. It seemed as if Dumbledore hadn't told her about Quirrell and Voldemort. She eventually pursed her lips as she held out her hand to take the memory from Emma.

'I will see that Professor Dumbledore gets this immediately.' she said, sternly. 'Would you like to accompany me?'

'No, thank you, Professor.' replied Emma, emphatically. 'I'm going back to the common room and I'm not going to let Harry out of my sight!'

At that, Professor McGonagall finally smiled. She gave Emma ten house points before leaving for Dumbledore's office.

When Emma got back to the common room, she told Hermione everything. They had decided that they wouldn't tell Harry or Ron what happened, given that it wouldn't make sense without also telling them about Emma. She just wasn't ready for them to know yet. Instead, Emma said that she had overheard Quirrell saying he would try to take the stone on the night after the last exam. It seemed a good enough compromise given that they had already told Harry that Quirrell was being possessed by Voldemort. They felt that he deserved to know, given that Voldemort tried to kill him as a child, however, it seemed to make him really nervous and agitated, and he complained about his scar hurting more often. Emma and Hermione began to wonder if they'd done the right thing in telling him.

For the rest of the week, Emma kept a close eye on Harry. It was fairly easy as they had all the same lessons, and spent most of their time in the library or common room. The only difficult part was when he went down to breakfast or dinner. She ended up just watching him and Quirrell from the entrance hall.

As for Quirrell, he was still around. Dumbledore hadn't gotten back to her about the memory either and she was really beginning to question his competence. Hermione and Emma went back and forth, wondering how they should respond to Quirrell's deal. They both agreed that no matter the answer, he'd kill Emma eventually, however, saying no would make it happen sooner, rather than later. In the end, Emma sent Quirrell an owl saying that she would go through with it after the final exam. She made a point of stressing that it was purely in the interest of self preservation, insisting that she felt it was the only way he would keep up his end of the bargain.

Of course, Emma had no intention of killing Harry, or anyone for that matter, but it gave them a week to make up a plan. They knew, after all, that he was going to steal the stone on the night of the last exam.

As for the exams themselves, Emma thought that they went very well. Every subject had a theory test, and some, including Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts, had practical components.

After taking on board what McGonagall had said about the results being private, she decided to do her best, instead of aiming for Acceptable in everything. She thought she did reasonably well in Herbology and History of Magic, especially considering her notes for those subjects were lacklustre, and she even surprised herself at how well she thought she did in Astronomy and Defence Against the Dark Arts. As she expected, she felt that she had done very well in Charms and even Potions, despite Snape breathing down their necks the whole time they were making a Forgetfulness potion. Transfiguration, however, was the only exam that disappointed her. She felt that she did very well on the theory, but obviously failed abysmally when she was asked to turn a mouse into a snuff-box. She knew the wand movement and the incantation and performed them both perfectly, but absolutely nothing happened.

'That was far easier than I thought it would be,' said Hermione after their last exam, History of Magic, and Emma nodded in agreement. 'I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager.'

Emma and Hermione kept chatting about the exams, how well they thought they did and went over individual questions all the while trying to ignore Ron's grumblings that it made him feel ill.

They were heading toward the grounds outside, given that it was, apparently, a very warm day when Emma suddenly stopped. They had just gotten to the front door of the castle when the glaring light from the high midday sun filled Emma's vision. It was blinding, painfully so, and her skin felt like it had been covered in a rather aggressive variant of itching powder. She realised that this was the first time she'd actually been outside in direct sunlight in months. She had spent most of her recent daylight hours indoors, and the few times she did go outside, usually to Herbology, it was overcast. It was quite a shock to her system, though it was nothing compared with garlic, and it certainly wasn't enough to stop her from joining the others, but it was still incredibly unpleasant. It was with this reminder that she was a vampire that she thought about her deal with Quirrell and realised they were all out of time.


	21. Chapter 21 - Through the Trapdoor

**Chapter 21 – Through The Trapdoor**

Harry and Ron were about to sit down on the grass where a lot of other students were, just down from the castle, but with one look from Hermione and Emma, they kept going.

'Why did we come all the way down here?' asked Ron.

They had just gotten to a secluded part of the lake that brushes the edge of the forest and Emma immediately rushed into the shade, while the others perched themselves on some of the large rocks in the sun.

'Because we don't want to be overheard talking about Quirrell.' said Hermione, matter of factly.

'Oh.' was all Ron replied with.

'So, what are we going to do about him?' wondered Emma.

'We can't let him take the stone.' exclaimed Harry. 'If Voldemort gets it...'

'Stop saying his name!' hissed Ron.

'It'll only be a matter of time before he tries to kill me again.' finished Harry.

'So let's take the stone before he does.' suggested Ron.

'But we don't know how to get passed Fluffy.' said Hermione.

'And Quirrell does?' asked Harry.

'I don't think he'd try if he didn't.' mused Emma. 'Even considering how desperate he is.'

'Then how did he find out? Hagrid said only he and Dumbledore knew.' asked Harry, again.

'And we all know how easy it is to get Hagrid to say things he shouldn't.' said Emma, flatly. 'I wouldn't be surprised if it was Quirrell that gave him the dragon egg.'

Harry hit himself on the forehead.

'Of course, why didn't we think of it before. Hagrid wanted a dragon more than anything, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one.'

'So how do _we_ find out?' asked Ron.

'Just get him talking about the stranger, and what they spoke about.' said Emma, thoughtfully. 'I'm sure he'll say it without even realising.'

'But while we do that, Quirrell will be free to wander around the castle as he pleases.' said Harry.

'I'll go to the staff room to keep an eye on him.' said Hermione. 'It'll be less suspicious if it's just me.'

'And if you get caught, you can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know.' said Ron, putting on a high voice. ' _Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong …_ '

'Oh, shut up.' scowled Hermione, but she grudgingly agreed that it was as good an excuse as any to be waiting around the staff room.

'What about Snape?' asked Harry.

'What do you mean?' replied Emma.

'Who's going to watch him?'

'I thought we'd agreed that he's not the one trying to steal it?'

'I didn't.'

'Of course not...' sighed Emma, shaking her head. 'Alright then. I'll go to Fluffy's corridor and make sure no-one tries anything. How does that sound?'

Harry nodded, accepting the idea.

'So what do we do once we know how to get passed Fluffy?' asked Ron.

'Well, you get Hermione while Harry gets the invisibility cloak.' said Emma, thinking. 'Meet up near the library and use the cloak the rest of the way.'

They all nodded, except Hermione who looked a bit worried.

'But what if you don't find out about Fluffy?' she asked.

'We'll have to wing it.' said Harry. 'It's too important!'

That didn't make Hermione feel any better, in fact, it made all of them feel worse. What they were planning on doing would get all four of them expelled for sure, and that's if they weren't eaten by a Cerberus first. Harry was right though. Voldemort couldn't be allowed to get the stone, so they all agreed to split up to get ready for their raid.

Emma skirted the forest for as long as she could. She'd moved her hand out into the sunlight a couple of times along the way back, instantly recoiling it from the burning sensation, earning a sympathetic look from Hermione. Of course, she'd already guessed what was wrong. In the end, she grudgingly joined Hermione and they both rushed up to the castle. They'd barely gotten inside when a voice interrupted them.

'What are you two doing inside on a day like this?'

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

'Sunburn, Professor.' said Emma, glumly.

McGonagall looked impassive at first, until her eyes widened in recognition.

'Ah, yes, of course.' she said, knowingly. 'Well, don't let me keep you.'

When Emma and Hermione parted ways on the first floor, Emma sprinted up to the third floor corridor and focused on not being seen. She waited there with bated breath for over an hour, assuming the clock she could hear ticking from a nearby classroom was accurate.

There was a surprisingly high amount of activity around this part of the castle, considering it was meant to be out of bounds. Emma saw Mrs Norris slink passed twice, Filch and McGonagall each came by once and she even saw the Weasley twins wandering around. Quirrell, however, was conspicuously absent, as was Snape, though she wasn't worried about him.

The last visitor that came by was Peeves who started trying to loosen the carpet so that people would trip. Emma thought that a forbidden corridor was a strange place to set up a prank, unless he was trying to catch Filch with it. Emma smiled a little at that idea, but then she frowned. Any prank that caught Filch was alright in her books, but Hermione, Harry and Ron would be by any minute and they probably wouldn't notice.

She was wondering what she could do to stop him when she heard three sets of feet shuffling a floor above her, heading for the moving stairs. They really weren't being very stealthy, and when they got closer, even Peeves heard them.

'Who's there?' asked Peeves. 'Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you a ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?'

He rose up a little and narrowed his wicked eyes toward them.

'Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen.'

What Emma heard next confused her for a second.

'Peeves,' whispered a hoarse voice. 'the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible.'

Emma nearly laughed out loud. It was Harry putting on a silly voice, and having heard the Bloody Baron speak a few times, she didn't think it was even close, but Peeves did. He almost fell out of the air in shock and started rambling his apologies before whizzing away.

'You really have to work on moving around less noisily.' said Emma to thin air as the other three shuffled to the locked door guarding Fluffy.

'Emma!' hissed Hermione, chidingly, after all three of them jumped and Emma started giggling.

She had deliberately hidden behind a pilaster, just in case any of the other teachers seemed immune to her hiding ability.

'So, did you find out how to get passed Fluffy?' she asked.

'Yeah, just play him some music.' said Harry, pulling out a hand-carved flute before looking at Hermione. 'Here, take the cloak, the three of you can use it to get back to the common room. I won't need it.'

'Don't be stupid.' said Ron.

'We're coming with you!' said Hermione.

'You think I'm going to miss the opportunity to explore more of the castle? You're nuts. _Alohomora_.'

'Who's going to use the flute?' asked Ron.

'I can,' offered Hermione, tentatively. 'I played the recorder a little at school.'

'Cool.' smiled Emma.

'The what?' asked Ron.

Harry handed over the flute and Hermione started playing a simple tune before they'd even opened the door. It was quite a nice tune, actually, and Fluffy seemed to agree as his eyes had started to droop by the time they were inside. It took only a few more moments before the animal fell to its knees and slumped on the ground, fast asleep.

While Hermione played, barely taking breaths, Emma, Harry and Ron heaved one of Fluffy's paws from off the top of the trap door and then Ron opened it. Emma walked right up to the edge and looked down. It was incredibly dark, though the floor looked a little fuzzy and really quite far away.

'So, who wants to go first?' asked Ron, clearly hoping someone else would volunteer.

'Me!' chirped Emma immediately, before Harry could offer, and she quickly stepped out over the trap door, into thin air and started falling.

She knew she'd be the only one that could come out unscathed if the room was any reasonable height. It also helped that she absolutely loved the feeling of falling and a selfish part of her really wanted to be the first to see this bit of the castle. When she landed at what must have been at least five floors down, she noticed why the floor seemed fuzzy from above. It was covered in some weird plant, perfectly soft enough to break a fall, even for humans.

'It's safe.' shouted Emma up to the trap door that now looked like a postage stamp.

Emma looked away as the light from the trap door was interfering with her night-vision. It was then that she noticed a corridor off to the side, and went to investigate while the others jumped down. Once she'd heard all three thuds as they landed one-by-one, she went back to make sure they were okay.

They weren't, not even slightly. They were covered in the same plant they had landed on, and it was trying to constrict them. They were wriggling, trying to get free and Emma could hear muffled cries. If she didn't do something soon, they would suffocate.

She leaned down to have a closer look at the plant and recognised it at once. Devil's Snare. Apart from having a very apt name, it was also a plant that liked cold, damp and dark conditions, and really hated light and warmth. Emma couldn't help agreeing with it, given recent developments, however, it was trying to kill her friends, and she'd have none of that. Reacting quickly, and calmly, Emma cast some of Hermione's signature blue waterproof flames all around the three of them and watched as the plant receded, avoiding the light.

The others all got up, wheezing and catching their breath.

'Thanks.' said Harry and Hermione in unison.

'How did you know that would work?' asked Ron.

'Because she pays attention in Herbology.' said Hermione, giving Emma a hug.

'The next room is down that corridor, and I could hear a lot of fluttering, like wings.'

The four of them followed the passage down, further underground, until they reached a dimly lit room with a tall arched ceiling.

'Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?' asked Ron looking up at the mass of wings above them.

'Probably,' said Harry. 'They don't look vicious -'

'Why would keys attack us?' wondered Emma.

'Keys?' asked Hermione.

'Yeah. They're all keys, and it looks like they're all different.'

'So, one of them is for the door.' said Harry. 'But which one?'

'We're probably looking for a big old fashioned one.' said Hermione.

'That probably narrows it down to about a quarter of them.' replied Emma. 'Anything else?'

'It'll probably be silver, and ornate, like the handle.'

'Narrows it down to -' paused Emma while she looked over the fluttering cloud. 'About five, I think.'

'How are we meant to get them down?' asked Ron.

' _Accio Keys_.' incanted Emma, answering his question.

Four of the five keys she was thinking of started moving toward her, but the fifth key didn't budge. Thinking she hadn't cast it properly, she cast the spell again directly on the single key. Again, it just kept flying.

'It's that one, it must be.' she said, pointing. 'It's got an anti-summoning charm on it.'

'Look! Broomsticks!' exclaimed Harry. 'We can use them to catch it. Which one is it again?'

Emma pointed it out to Harry, noting that it had bright blue wings. He spotted it fairly quickly, but the other two didn't. It was hardly surprising, given that Harry was the youngest Quidditch Seeker in centuries. This was exactly his field of expertise.

Harry directed them to grab some brooms and help him catch it. Emma, unable to use brooms, just had to stand and watch. It was actually quite interesting though. Harry was very good at organising the other two into an ambush of the key. Hermione would fly at it from below and Ron from above. Harry then swooped in and caught it with ease.

After they had unlocked the door and made it into the next chamber, Emma could make out a large room that contained a huge chess set. That was until the room suddenly lit up and blinded her. It took her a few more moments to adjust to the brightness and she had to squint to make anything out. They were stood behind the black chess pieces, and on the other side of the room, guarding the door, were the white pieces. They were all faceless and as tall as most adults. It was really intimidating.

'Now what do we do?' whispered Harry.

'It's obvious isn't it?' said Ron. 'We've got to play our way across the room.'

'How?' asked Hermione.

'I think,' said Ron. 'We're going to have to be chessmen.'

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life and the knight looked down at Ron.

'Do we – er – have to join you to get across?'

The black knight nodded and Ron turned round to look at the other three.

After a short discussion, Ron took the lead, being the best at chess and directed them all to take different positions on the board. Emma was told to take the role of a rook, Hermione the queen, Harry a bishop and Ron himself took the knight.

As if the chessmen were listening, the relevant pieces on the black team turned and walked off the board, leaving the spots free for the four of them to take. Once they were all in position, one of the white pawns moved two squares forward.

The game took quite a while and in true magic fashion, turned out to be wizard chess. This meant that the pieces actually fought and as a result, some even broke. Ron, however, was very good and even given that Emma barely knew how to play, it was evident from his expression that Ron felt that he had the upper hand. He took great joy in moving all over the board, taking the enemy pieces almost single-handedly.

It went well until it turned out that Ron would have to sacrifice himself so that Harry could checkmate. None of them liked it, but it was the only way.

'Look, if we don't hurry up, we'll still be here when Quirrell shows up!' said Ron, nervous but determined. 'Here I go – now, don't hang around when you've won.'

He stepped forward and the white queen pounced, striking him on the head with her stone arm. He fell to the floor immediately. Hermione screamed and Emma cringed away. She knew just what that might feel like, having taken a troll club to the shoulder.

The white queen dragged Ron off the board before returning to her spot and then Harry shakily moved to checkmate the king. It was met with the white king throwing his crown at Harry's feet. The white pieces then bowed and left them free to go through the next door.

Before moving forward, however, they all glanced back to Ron.

'What if he's?-' asked Hermione, worried.

'He's fine.' said Emma, calmly, giving Hermione a pointed look. 'Promise.'

She could still hear his heartbeat, and his breathing was even. He certainly didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

'What do you reckon is next?' asked Harry.

'Well, we've had Sprout's, Flitwick's and I'm guessing this was McGonagall's.' said Hermione. 'That leaves Snape's, Quirrell's and probably whatever Dumbledore set last.'

They moved to the door tentatively.

'All right?' asked Harry, and he received two determined nods.

When they pushed open the door, they were assaulted by a disgusting smell. A very familiar one at that. Emma had only just been thinking of trolls a few minutes ago. The room before them contained a ginormous troll, far larger than their previous encounter, and it had heard them.

The troll, at least 16 feet tall, stood there stupidly for a few moments, raising it's club. All three of them drew their wands, but Emma interrupted the other two.

'No, go around it.' she said hurriedly, before the troll could think about coming to it's senses and attack them. 'Get to the other test, both of you.'

'But-' exclaimed Hermione and Harry.

'Ron was right! That chess game took too long. We need to get the stone and leave before Quirrell gets here.' she forced. 'Go!'

Harry, being a bit more level headed at the moment agreed and ran toward the door, almost dragging Hermione. To stop the troll from following them, which had now decided they were a threat, Emma threw red sparks at it from her wand and whistled sharply as loud as she could.

Once she had it's attention, she hissed, barring her fangs at it. She had hoped that it would have an aversion to vampires or something, and leave her alone. It was wishful thinking at best as it kept advancing toward her. Either the troll was just too stupid to understand or Emma was too small to pose any risk.

Instead she decided to take a leaf out of Ron's book, levitating the club from the troll's grasp and chucking it to the back of the room with a flick of her wrist. The troll, which had barely noticed the club leaving it's hand, lumbered slowly toward Emma and was getting very close. Emma was far faster and more agile than she was a year ago though, so she managed to stay out of reach with ease, running rings around it, all the while trying to position the troll between herself and his club. Once she got herself into a spot where she had enough time to cast a spell, she levitated the club high into the air again and then shouted another incantation.

'Accio Club.'

The club flew straight toward her, and having made sure the troll was in it's path, it smacked him on the back of the head with a deafening crack. The club actually split into multiple pieces from the force and Emma had to shield herself from flying splinters of wood. The troll took a few moments, as if deciding what to do, and then keeled over, flat on it's face. As with Ron, it seemed to still be alive and Emma had to hand it to trolls, they were very resilient creatures.

Very pleased with herself, Emma remembered what they were here for and quickly went to follow Hermione and Harry, however, the door to the next room was now engulfed in thick purple flames, so thick that she couldn't see through. She couldn't hear anything through them either.

Hoping that they were alright, she turned to go and check on Ron, but was stopped by the sound of footsteps coming from the chess room.

'Who's gullible now, little one?'


	22. Chapter 22 - Unforgivable

**Chapter 22 – Unforgivable**

Quirrell came into view through the door, smirking.

'Left you behind have they?' he said, sneering. 'Realised you're a useless squib?'

Emma, overcome with that strange sense of fear and calm she felt when threatened by Quirrell, just shrugged and put her robes over her nose automatically. She had no idea where this personality of hers came from, or where it went after their last encounter, but she was thankful for it now. Her anger was bubbling up again and the fearlessness that accompanied it was most welcome.

'Something like that.' she said, flatly.

'It's for the best, really. They'd never be your friends if they knew what you are.' he said, smiling coldly. 'Our deal still stands, by the way.'

'Not going to happen.'

'That's unfortunate, after all, you've done most of the work to get the stone for me. Though I expected as much. Dumbledore really has turned you into ever such a loyal pet, hasn't he?'

That stung Emma more than she thought it would, and Quirrell knew it, smiling at her discomfort. She'd been compared to a pet before, and given the magical community's feelings toward half-breeds, it made her feel more worthless than being an orphan did. That combined with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to fend for herself in the wild really upset her. She was entirely dependant on Dumbledore and Hagrid. If they stopped feeding her, she wouldn't last long.

'I'd rather be his pet than Voldemort's.'

She knew Voldemort and Quirrell would use her and then kill her, and almost certainly expect her to hunt humans, probably muggles. Maybe they would even expect her to turn people into vampires, to create an army they could use to take over again. Whatever the case, she would have no part in it. She'd rather die.

'You _dare_ speak his name!' hissed Quirrell.

'What's he going to do, kill me?' she said in a bored tone. 'You're already going to do that anyway.'

'There are worse things than death, little one. _Crucio_.'

When Quirrell incanted that last word, Emma suddenly felt as if she had been bathed in direct sunlight again and it was a difficult sensation to describe. It was a feeling she'd expect to have if she was being burned alive, or dumped in a pool of acid, or perhaps a combination of the two. Still, it wasn't that bad. The pain was only a little worse than she had experienced earlier that day standing outside, though it was still nowhere near as bad as garlic could be, and given that her robes were over her nose, she was thankfully garlic-free for the moment.

'I think you underestimate how painful death can be.' said Emma, wincing.

It seemed that Quirrell was expecting a completely different reaction to that spell and Emma actually laughed at his expression. She was surprised at herself, not just for the laughter, but for the anger that was building within her. She'd never hated anyone before in her life, and she always tried to be calm and mild mannered. It was something she picked up at the orphanage. The calm, smiling, quiet ones were always treated better by the adults. It was with that thought that she really had to wonder how it was that she truly hated the man standing in front of her. Not even her mother had earned as much ire as Quirrell.

Emma was distracted, however, when Hermione burst through the purple flames behind her. It also distracted Quirrell as the pain she was feeling vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Quirrell quickly recovered himself though and sneered at the both of them.

'Ah, Miss Granger, how nice of you to join us.' he laughed. 'I wonder, Miss Pearson, if your friend here is as resistant to pain as you are?'

He repeated the incantation, but Emma was quicker. She moved directly in front of Hermione and felt the pain return. Quirrell was livid, but Hermione became worried when Emma had stiffened in response to the pain and stepped to the side to see him.

'Stop it!' she screamed, weakly.

'Of course.' he replied, silkily, and quickly cast the spell again on Hermione as Emma recovered.

Hermione immediately buckled and fell to the floor, her limbs stretching in grotesque angles, her back arching and screaming in agony. It was truly shocking to watch, and Emma was terrified that Quirrell was killing Hermione. She quickly realised that the only way she could help Hermione now was to interrupt Quirrell. She felt really thankful that the _A-Z of Charms_ book that Hermione had bought her for her birthday contained the disarming charm.

' _Expelliarmus_.' incanted Emma, rushing.

Quirrell was too focussed on Hermione, and probably wasn't expecting Emma to be able to cast magic, thinking that vampires were mostly incapable, so he wasn't prepared. The wand flew out of his hand and Hermione stopped screaming at once, whimpering and twitching on the floor, unable to get up.

'You insolent little vampire!' yelled Quirrell. 'Enough of this!'

He waved one of his hands and ropes appeared out of thin air. They wrapped themselves around Emma and Hermione, lifting them both a foot off the ground, constricting them and moving them to the side of the room. He then summoned his wand back wordlessly before Harry appeared from the purple flames.

Emma could have hugged him so tight if she wasn't bound and in a perilous situation. His timing was impeccable. She was sure that Quirrell was about to take her and Hermione's wands off them. As it was, Quirrell was now too busy goading Harry with Emma and Hermione momentarily forgotten.

Emma wasn't paying much attention to their conversation, she was busy herself. She was trying to twist her left hand around to point her wand at the ropes, but it was stuck behind her back and the ropes were too tight.

While she was struggling, she couldn't help wonder what Quirrell was doing. If it had been Emma in his position, she'd have killed herself and Hermione immediately, and Harry only after making sure he had the stone. She'd probably be half way across the North Sea by now. Instead, Quirrell seemed to be having fun playing with, and taunting, his victims. Voldemort too seemed to enjoy this as Quirrell had taken off his turban again and turned away from Harry. Voldemort was trying to persuade Harry to hand over the stone and join him. They were beginning to sound like a broken record.

Harry had refused to help Voldemort and went for his wand. That made Quirrell quickly respond by disarming Harry and wrapping him in yet more magical ropes.

'Don't be a fool,' snarled Voldemort. 'Better save your own life and join me … or you'll meet the same end as your parents … They died begging me for mercy …'

'LIAR!' shouted Harry, suddenly.

Quirrell walked backward toward Harry, so that Voldemort could still see him. The evil face was smiling.

'How touching …' he hissed. 'I always value bravery … Yes, boy, your parents were brave … I killed your father first and he put up a courageous fight … but your mother needn't have died … she was trying to protect you … Now give me the stone, unless you want her to have died in vain.'

'NEVER!'

Emma had finally been able to shift her hand, pointing her wand at her ropes, and now needed to cut them.

' _Diffindo._ ' she incanted quietly.

The severing charm that was released sliced through all of the ropes like butter, but it had also sliced a cut up along her back. The pain was inconsequential given what was going to happen to her next.

'So be it … kill the others.' ordered Voldemort to Quirrell.

Quirrell turned to point his wand at Emma, but she was already half a step ahead of him, casting another severing charm at Harry's ropes. She wasn't quite fast enough though as before she could try a shield charm, Quirrell had already cast an _Expulso_ charm.

'No!' screamed Hermione and Harry together.

Emma watched as Harry was released from his ropes and immediately went to grab Quirrell's arm, as he had no other option, being wandless. It was then that Quirrell's spell hit her in the chest and simply exploded. It had enough force to break multiple bones and internal organs, as well as throw her across the room into the wall, on which she broke her skull. When she blacked out, her clothes were on fire, and she could hear Hermione, Harry, Quirrell and Voldemort screaming.

When Emma regained consciousness, her eyelids heavy and remaining closed, she wondered where she was. The first thing she noticed was the sound of four people around her, only one of them moving about. She could hear two weak heartbeats, and the slow even breathing that accompanied them, to her right, a short distance away. One of them sounded like Ron, but she wasn't sure who the other one was. If she had to guess, it would probably be Harry. The third person, the one moving around, was an adult and she was muttering angrily to herself about keeping trolls and three-headed dogs in a school. Emma didn't recognise the voice, but given the two unconscious bodies nearby, and that she could smell numerous different potions, she assumed she was in the hospital wing.

What drew Emma's attention most of all was the body just on her left. A strong frantic heartbeat and strange erratic breathing. It sounded like a very upset Hermione. It also smelt like her too, and she'd definitely been crying recently. At least she was still alive though.

Emma had barely been awake a few seconds when that thought hit her, along with everything else that happened before she was hit with the explosion. It was all well and good having a personality that could cope with dangers and friends getting hurt, but when it went away again, the flood gates opened and Emma found herself drowning in emotions she wasn't prepared for.

She started shaking a little at first, but quickly turned onto her side and started crying. She was about to curl up into a ball when Hermione noticed and hurled herself onto Emma, hugging her tightly. She too was crying again. Emma found herself holding onto Hermione, just to keep herself together.

Madam Pomfrey, the matron of the hospital wing, had heard the crying and went to check up on Hermione. She wasn't taking Emma's death well. Earlier she had been adamant that Emma would heal and come back to life, but wouldn't say how. The matron had simply discounted it as hysteria, but when she saw the two of them, she was shocked and amazed to see them both alive.

Emma had been in such a terrible state when she arrived. She was covered in severe burns where her robes had caught fire, her chest cavity had almost entirely collapsed and her skull, well, that didn't bear thinking about. Yet here she was, less than half-an-hour later, looking like nothing had happened.

If Madam Pomfrey had been paying any attention to Emma, she might have witnessed it, but she had been tending to the Weasley and Potter boys. Emma had been dead, there was nothing she could have done. She decided to put her medical curiosity to the side and give the girls their privacy, making sure the curtains were drawn again, before going back to Harry and Ron.

Emma and Hermione were lying there on the cot for a good fifteen minutes before they had both managed to calm down, but it took them a little longer for them to break the silence.

'I thought you wouldn't come back.' shuddered Hermione.

'I thought you'd all be dead when I did come back.' whispered Emma. 'I was so scared when he cast that pain spell on you.'

They both winced at the memory.

'Are you okay? The pain _has_ gone, hasn't it?' asked Emma.

'Yeah... I'm alright.' stammered Hermione. 'I'm just glad you're back... Please don't die again.'

Emma laughed morosely at that, quietly. 'I'll do my best.'

'Good.' said Hermione, tightening the hug.

'So how are Harry and Ron? Their heartbeats sound so weak. Are they okay? How long have we been here? What happened after I...?'

'Madam Pomfrey said Ron should be fine. He just got a knock on the head, but she doesn't know what's wrong with Harry.' she whimpered. 'And I'm not sure what happened after you... after...'

Hermione shuddered and shook her head, trying to get rid of a memory.

'Harry got hold of Quirrell, and I don't know how, or why, but Quirrell started burning at Harry's touch. It seemed to hurt Harry too, but he just kept hold until Dumbledore arrived.'

'So, that's how you're okay? Harry stopped him from hurting you?'

Hermione nodded, and Emma sighed in relief.

'So how long have I been here,' asked Emma before stopping, suddenly noticing what she was wearing. 'and why am I in my nightie?'

Hermione laughed weakly and blushed a little in response, then got up to sit back on the chair beside the cot.

'I put it on you... after you healed...' she stammered quickly, looking very uncomfortable. 'You... weren't wearing much. The spell burned most of your robes away. I asked Dumbledore to summon you something to wear from your trunk. I... didn't think you'd want to be... _nude_.'

'Oh, fair enough.' said Emma, simply, and sat up to face Hermione. 'Thank you.'

'You're not mad?'

'Nope.' shrugged Emma nonchalantly and then received a confused look. 'I think everyone at the orphanage has seen me naked at one point or another. I was raised there from a few days old after all. You kind of get used to not having any privacy.'

Hermione looked shocked at that before shaking her head and looking away, still a little embarrassed. She was spared after a few moments though when Madam Pomfrey opened the curtains slightly to let herself in.

'Well, Miss Pearson. While I am very glad that I am not having to prepare your body for a funeral at present, might I ask _how_ in Merlin's name you are alive again, and how Miss Granger knew it would happen?'

'You didn't tell her?' asked Emma, looking at Hermione.

'Not my secret to tell.' she replied, matter of factly.

'Thanks, Hermione.' smiled Emma, turning back to the matron's confused expression. 'Can you keep a secret, Madam?'

'A secret?' she inquired curiously. 'Regarding your health? Why certainly. Healer-Patient confidentiality is a sacred trust.'

Emma and Hermione looked at each other and nodded. Emma then listened to make sure nobody else was around to overhear them.

'I'm a vampire.'

'A vampire?' wondered Madam Pomfrey. 'How interesting. That would certainly explain the swift healing, but returning from the dead... Never in all my years.'

She paused looking over the two of them and frowned, before returning to her normal expression.

'Well, let me take a look at both of you. I've done all I can for the boys for the time being.'

The matron then cast a number of simple spells on Hermione first, they seemed to be some form of magical diagnostic test.

'Besides a few scrapes from the ropes around your waist and arms, you're in very good health. I can fix them up quite easily.'

She bade Hermione lift up her top to show her belly before casting a wordless spell on the rope marks. Emma was very familiar with the spell, having learned it already. It was the Episkey healing charm. Once the spell was cast, all the minor scrapes and bruises from Hermione vanished.

'Good as new.' beamed the matron before turning to Emma. 'Your turn.'

'Oh, I'm fine, Madam. Pretty light-headed, but that will go away once I've fed.'

'It doesn't hurt to check.' frowned Madam Pomfrey, casting the diagnostic spells again.

'I don't think they'll work. I'm apparently resistant to magic.'

She cast the spells a few times before seemingly agreeing with Emma.

'That will be problematic.' she frowned again. 'Well, at least you're an easy patient. May I ask how you've been feeding yourself? Have you been drinking human blood?'

'No, not human!' said Emma, emphatically. 'Animal blood. I think it's leftover from the meat from the kitchens. Hagrid collects it for me, and I guess it's Dumbledore that makes the bottle appear in my trunk every other night.'

'Hmm.' thought Madam Pomfrey. 'How much are you normally given?'

'The bottle is about so...' said Emma, moving her hands to show the height and width. She thought it was about half a litre.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, thoughtfully. 'And you said you feed once every two days?'

'Yes, Madam.' replied Emma, curious as to why her diet was getting such an interrogation.

'How often do you feel hungry?'

Emma ducked her head and winced, feeling self-conscious. It was a question she hoped to avoid. 'All the time.'

'What!' exclaimed Hermione, concerned. 'Why didn't you say something?'

'You know I don't want to feed every day, Hermione.' sulked Emma.

Finally, Madam Pomfrey nodded to herself, her questions over.

'I will contact the headmaster immediately and we shall discuss your diet.' she said, her stern matron attitude returning. 'It's all wrong! You're consuming far too little, far too often! It's no wonder you're always hungry.'

She then muttered under her breath about nobody telling her anything these days and then looked at Emma again.

'You need rest! Miss Granger, you should get some rest as well, so you can stay here for the moment.'

'Thank you, Madam.' they both said in unison.

The matron nodded again and went back to her office, resuming her angry muttering.

Emma was forced to stay lying on the cot for nearly twenty minutes, getting more and more restless and irate as the minutes ticked by. Hermione had started giggling at Emma's expression. It was a testament to her self control that Emma didn't simply get up and start exploring the castle. She doubted she could stand up without getting dizzy and falling over, but that wouldn't have stopped her.

When Professor Dumbledore finally arrived, he found himself having to apologise for many of his actions, or lack thereof. Firstly, there was the matter of him ignoring the evidence from Emma's memories, his excuse being that they were so detailed, he couldn't help but feel that they were fabricated, or more worryingly, implanted by someone else to implicate Quirrell. Then he apologised for being away from the school during their foray into the forbidden corridor. He believed he had received a letter from the ministry, but it was a fake sent by Quirrell. He had gone most of the way to London before the wards alerted him to the intrusion. Of course, he also apologised for Emma dying again, and the current state of the two boys, who were both still unconscious. Lastly, he apologised for not telling Madam Pomfrey about Emma, and therefore getting her feeding regime wrong.

Madam Pomfrey had explained that vampires in the wild, so to speak, would typically hunt one mammal, preferably human, every couple of weeks, consuming large quantities of blood in one go. The way Emma was currently being fed was equated to a human eating their meals one mouthful at a time, spread out equally over an entire day. The stomach never getting enough, always feeling empty, and always begging for more, but still getting enough to survive.

It was decided, with the help of Madam Pomfrey, that Emma would be weaned off her current diet, having it slowly increase in volume but spaced further and further apart. The worry was that if she went too long too quickly without feeding, she could end up being a danger. Emma was perfectly happy with the arrangement. If it stopped her feeling hungry all the time, it was worth it.

'If we are done then, Miss Pearson, Miss Granger, I will take my leave.' said Dumbledore, turning to the door.

'Actually, Professor. We have a few questions.' replied Emma.

'I'm sure you do.' chuckled Dumbledore. 'I will endeavour to answer them if I am able.'

'We were wondering if you know of a spell whose incantation is _Crucio_.'

Dumbledore suddenly looked much older and wearier, and looked at the two of them in sorrow.

'He used it on the both of you?'

'Yes, Professor. Just us two.' said Emma.

'It is the Cruciatus Curse.' sighed Dumbledore, heavily. 'Otherwise known as the Torture Curse. It is one of the Unforgivables and was created purely to inflict excruciating pain, a fact I am very saddened to know that you have both experienced.'

Hermione winced, wrapped her arms around herself and looked distressed. Emma quickly hugged her.

'Were Quirinus still here, he would be facing a life sentence in Azkaban for the use of such a curse against you, Miss Granger.'

'But not Emma?' asked Hermione.

'I'm afraid not. The law surrounding the Unforgivable Curses only covers the use of them against other humans.'

'But that's...'

'It's okay, Hermione, really.' interrupted Emma.

'No, it isn't fair. Unfortunately, that is just the way of things.' he sighed again. 'Do you have any further questions?'

'Uhm... yes, Professor.' replied Emma. 'I was wondering if I would be allowed to stay at Hogwarts over the summer? I mean, it would be very difficult for me to keep being a vampire a secret, and... it could be dangerous, if I lost control. And how would you give me my food? And how would I heat it up?'

'I am sorry, Miss Pearson, but I cannot allow you to stay. If I did, I would have to allow others to stay too, and we simply do not have the facilities to take care of a large number of students over the summer. I'm sure you understand. Your food will be given to you in the usual manner, and I will ensure that it is heated before it is sent to you.'

'Okay, sir.' sulked Emma.

'Will that be all? If so, I must be going. I have a staff vacancy to fill.'

'Yes, Professor. I think that's all.' said Hermione, glaring a little and Dumbledore left.

'Don't worry, Emma. When we get back to the common room, I'll write a letter to my parents asking if you can stay over.'


	23. Chapter 23 - End of Term

**Chapter 23 – End of Term**

After Dumbledore had left, Madam Pomfrey approached them again and Emma sat up on the cot, cross-legged, expectantly. The matron had a white ceramic bottle in her hands and passed it to Emma.

'I want you to drink that now, before you leave.'

Emma took the bottle and looked at it gingerly, mouth watering, before turning to Madam Pomfrey.

'I thought you were feeding me more than normal tonight?'

'We are. It has an extension charm on it so that it can hold much more than normal. Inside is twice your usual amount.'

Both Emma and Hermione's eyes widened in interest at that. They'd read about extension charms but had never seen their effects. They sounded incredibly useful.

'Is...' asked Emma, feeling the side of the bottle, unsure. 'Is it warm?'

'Yes, it has been heated to body temperature.' said the matron, simply.

'Thank you.' replied Emma, looking at her audience, awkwardly.

'Maybe we should go-' started Hermione.

'That won't be necessary.' replied the matron.

'But...'

'It's okay, Hermione.' stammered Emma, scared. 'I would feel better if you both pointed your wands at me though. And remember, I'm resistant.'

'If you insist.' said Madam Pomfrey, drawing her wand.

Emma sighed, opened the bottle and started drinking before she could smell it. It was a strange idea, to drink double the normal amount, but the moment the blood touched her lips she forgot about it. In fact, as she was enveloped in the blissfully warm pins and needles feeling, she forgot about almost everything. When she had finished, she shuddered and fell backwards. She barely noticed that she'd fallen over and was now lying on the cot again. She was simply amazed to be feeling somewhat full for the first time in a few months.

'What's happening to her?' whispered Hermione, worriedly.

'While blood is a vampire's source of nutrition, it also puts them into a near-euphoric state. I expect that she's barely even aware of our presence any more. It will pass shortly. Animal blood is not nearly as potent as human blood, and the effects don't last as long.'

'How is it that you know so much about vampires, Madam?'

'Oh, it was a part of my training at St. Mungo's Hospital. We used to get the occasional newly bitten vampire seeking help. I always felt so sorry for them, and werewolves too. Their whole world turned upside down in the blink of an eye, with no hope for a cure.' sighed Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione nodded solemnly as Emma stretched her arms out and sat up again, smiling.

'How are you feeling?' asked the matron.

'Much better, thank you, Madam.' said Emma, standing up and moving around.

'Very good. Then you should both return to your dormitories, it is very late. Miss Pearson, would you like me to summon you some more appropriate clothing?'

'No, thank you. I'll change when I get back.'

As they walked slowly back to the common room, not in any rush, they talked amongst themselves quietly. Hermione wanted to know what happened to the troll, and was very impressed with Emma's story. She had thought that maybe Quirrell had dealt with it since they were his speciality after all. Emma had asked about Snape's test, which turned out to be a logic puzzle. The large room had a stand in the middle that had numerous potions on it in a line, some of which were poison, some nettle wine, and two that would allow passage through the flames, one for either direction. A note had been left with clues for them to work out which was which.

'When it said you would find poison on nettle wine's left side, how did you know which way was left? Since the potions were in the middle of the room, if you were on the other side, left would be the other way.'

Hermione stopped in her tracks, stunned.

'I hadn't thought of that.' she said, timidly. 'I solved it from the side I was on, because it was the one with the note.'

'Ahh, that makes sense.' nodded Emma.

Hermione, true to her word, immediately sat down and started writing a letter once they had gotten back to the common room. It was empty as everyone else had already gone to bed.

'Hermione, we can do this in the morning. Go get some sleep, you must be exhausted.'

'We can't wait any longer, term ends soon. We've got to ask my parents and your orphanage if you can stay over, and that all takes time.'

'Thank you, Hermione, but you really don't have to do this. I can go back to the orphanage, it'll be fine.'

'I know I don't have to, but I am, so there.' she said sticking her tongue out at Emma. 'It's like you don't want to stay over.'

'I do.' said Emma vehemently. 'I just don't want to be an inconvenience.'

Hermione rolled her eyes at Emma and continued writing. When she finished the letter, she folded it up and handed it over.

'You can read it if you want, I've not told them much. They already know that you're my best friend and that you live at an orphanage. I just said I would like you to be able to stay over because you'll be miserable otherwise.' smiled Hermione. 'And I know you're going up to the seventh floor to check on Barnabas the Barmy's secret again, so you can deliver the letter on the way. '

'You know me so well.' laughed Emma. 'Thank you, really.'

'Don't thank me yet, they might say no.' said Hermione, turning to the dormitories. 'Goodnight.'

'It's the thought that counts, Hermione, sleep well.'

While Emma did go up to the seventh floor to try new methods of opening the secret door, she was too preoccupied. She kept worrying about the letter on its way to the Granger's and what will happen over the summer. She didn't want to let herself hope that she'd be able to stay with Hermione, as it usually ended with disappointment. Hope was insipid like that. Nothing left an orphan quite so hollow as hope, constantly praying that parents will show up out of the blue, or a nice family will adopt you. Of course, it never happened. Still, hope she did.

Her main worry, however, was her friends. Harry and Ron were still unconscious and Hermione had definitely not been entirely herself since the Unforgivable Curse. Then again, Emma didn't really feel quite like herself after that either. In an attempt to calm herself down, she moved to the hospital wing and sat down by the door, listening to Harry, Ron and Madam Pomfrey sleep.

Emma was woken from her memories when Hermione came by hours later, before breakfast, to check on Harry and Ron. Ron had actually regained consciousness during the night, but he was obviously very tired as he quickly fell back to sleep and started snoring. Hermione had grabbed him, after a few checks from Madam Pomfrey, and taken him to get something to eat.

Since he was only allowed out conditionally, the two of them returned as soon as they had finished and so the three of them found themselves sitting around Harry's cot in the hospital wing, glumly, for the rest of the day. Harry got quite a few visitors over the course of the day, as the news spread about what happened under the school. Neither Emma, Hermione or Ron had told anyone what had happened, but people had noticed Quirrell was missing and rumours were already spreading like wild fire.

Among Harry's visitors, which included Neville, Seamus and Dean, there was also the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Emma recognised most of them, and they were all very concerned about Harry. Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor team captain, however, seemed far more worried that Harry wouldn't be awake for their game against Ravenclaw the following day. Emma was angry at that and found herself growling quietly while glaring at him. She was so distracted that she didn't notice the owl tapping on the window.

'Emma.' said Hermione, loudly, standing near the window and waving a letter. 'It's from mum and dad.'

Emma ran over quickly, excited. 'What did they say?'

'They said they'd love to have you over.' beamed Hermione, as she scanned the rest of the letter. 'Though only if the orphanage gives their permission.'

Emma sighed. She had no idea whether Mrs Cole would agree to it or not.

With the help of Professor McGonagall, Emma managed to write a letter to Mrs Cole at the orphanage. She knew the address, but she needed to know how to get owls to deliver using the muggle post. She also needed a return address that Mrs Cole could send the letter to that would get to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had said that all school owls were trained to deliver letters to muggle postboxes if requested, though the letters would need to be stamped and addressed for the muggles to be able to process them properly. Luckily, Hermione had plenty of stamps that her parents had given her before she came to Hogwarts, though she'd never had to use any. The return address was just as straight forward. The letter would be delivered through the muggle post to a department of the Ministry and forwarded by owl.

The most difficult part of the endeavour was deciding what to write. She felt that it would be rude to only ask to stay at a friend's house, especially as she hadn't made a single effort to contact them previously. In the end, she lied, saying that school had been so busy that she hadn't had time to write until now, given that the exams were over. She asked how everyone was doing and whether there were any new children at the orphanage and only added her question to the end as if it were an afterthought. She also added the Granger's contact details, expecting that Mrs Cole would want to talk to them.

When she received the reply the following day, shortly after Gryffindor's abysmal defeat at Quidditch, which neither Emma nor Hermione went to, she was so scared of what it might say that she gave the letter to Hermione. She knew the moment Hermione's face lit up that they'd gotten permission, and when it had been said out loud, they were both kicked out of the hospital wing for being too exuberant.

Emma was ecstatic with the news and spent the whole next day smiling to herself. It wasn't a full smile considering Harry was still unconscious and she still had to tell the Granger's that she was a vampire. Hermione wanted her parents to know, as she didn't keep any secrets from them, but as she said before, it wasn't her secret to tell. Emma wanted to tell them too, because she felt that it would be unfair of her to live with them, without them knowing the danger they might be placing themselves in, even if it meant being rejected. They had both agreed, however, that it would be best to inform Mr and Mrs Granger when they were at the station. Writing that Emma was a vampire on a letter seemed too dangerous. What if someone intercepted it?

Emma felt that she had never smiled so much in her life when Harry finally woke up a few days later. Nearly all of her worries had melted away. The three of them could only visit Harry for a few minutes at a time every couple of hours and having learned their lesson about exuberance, Hermione and Emma waited until Madam Pomfrey was out of sight before giving Harry a group hug, even bringing in a reluctant Ron.

They discussed what happened with Quirrell. Ron, of course, knew nothing after the chess room, which meant Emma had to repeat her story about the troll. Hermione too explained Snape's test to Ron, and Harry revealed to all of them what had happened for Dumbledore's test. The room had only contained the Mirror of Erised, and all Harry did was walk up to it. His reflection had put it's hand in it's pocket, and Harry felt the stone materialise in his own pocket. That was why he was so quick. He'd said Dumbledore had told him that only someone who wanted the stone, but not to use it, would be able to get it.

'So if we hadn't gone down there, Quirrell wouldn't have been able to get the stone at all?' asked Emma, confused.

'I think he would have gotten it eventually.' said Harry. 'But I guess we did make it easier for him.'

They all sighed.

'Can we all have a boring year next year where nothing happens, please.' asked Emma. 'I don't think I can do that again.'

Neither Emma nor Hermione had told the boys about the Cruciatus Curse. It wasn't entirely intentional, it's just that they didn't want to talk about it, even to each other. Harry and Ron had noticed that they were leaving something out, but didn't push them. It moved Emma enough for her to realise that she hadn't been anywhere near as friendly with the boys as she was with Hermione, and it made her feel very guilty.

The last two things of note before term ended was the end of year feast, and the exam results. Emma didn't go to the feast, however, she was told afterward that Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin to the house cup with 482 points to 472. The Slytherin's were angry at having such a long winning streak cut short, but other than that, the feast was entirely uneventful.

As for the exam results, Emma wasn't really surprised with hers, except maybe that she had beaten Hermione on both Charms and Potions by one or two percentage points. She had passed Transfiguration, though only by the skin of her teeth, and her marks for every other subject were happily above average. Hermione, to nobodies surprise, came top of the year by a wide margin. Harry and Ron too did reasonably well, and even Neville had managed to scrape by with a high Herbology mark.

Shortly after the exam results had been given, the four of them found themselves packing up their things, taking another boat ride across the lake, and then filtering onto the train to go home. They had all been given notes warning them not to use magic over the holidays, to everyone's disappointment.

Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron had found themselves a compartment and they spent the entire trip talking and laughing together as the countryside flew by, steadily getting greener and tidier until villages started turning into towns.

They'd all gotten changed out of their wizard robes into their muggle clothes. Emma watched as the other three put on their jackets and thought that it was a good idea. It was very sunny and Emma wanted to cover as much of her skin as possible.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and drawing attention from the muggles.

'You must come and stay this summer,' said Ron, 'the three of you – I'll send an owl.'

'Thanks,' said Harry. 'I'll need something to look forward to.'

Emma felt like she was going to be sick, she'd never been so nervous about anything before. She followed beside Hermione, trying not to look as terrified as she felt, though she didn't think she was succeeding. She barely paid attention when they met Mrs Weasley, though she tried to be polite, however, she did manage to get a good hiss in at Harry's obscenely overweight and incredibly rude uncle, Vernon Dursley.

When Harry and the Weasley's had dispersed, Hermione took Emma's hand and dragged her a little further through the station. Emma saw the Granger's before Hermione did. Mrs Granger had dark brown hair, a little darker than Hermione's, and green eyes. Mr Granger, by contrast, had lighter brown hair and brown eyes. The family resemblance was very clear. Emma pointed them out to Hermione and was then led toward them.

When they were close enough, Hermione let go of Emma's hand and ran to her parents, giving them both a hug at the same time.

'Hi Mum. Hi Dad. I missed you.' she said, her voice muffled by the hug.

'Hello, darling.' they both said, laughing.

Emma stood there looking away awkwardly.

'Oh, Mum, Dad, this is Emma.' she said, releasing her hug.

'Hello, Mr and Mrs Granger, it's nice to meet you.' she said as politely as she could manage.

'Please, call me Jane, and this is my husband, Richard.'

'Okay, then. Thank you, Jane, and Richard, for letting me stay with you. I really appreciate it.'

'It's our pleasure.' said Richard. 'It was such a surprise for Hermione to ask. She's not had many friends before.'

'Dad!' pouted Hermione, pushing him ahead of her. 'Let's get to the car, we've got something to tell you that might change your mind.'

They all walked out to the station entrance and got into the car, Richard driving, Jane in the front passenger seat and Hermione and Emma in the back. Mr Granger was about to turn the key to start the engine when Hermione stopped him.

'Dad, wait. I told you, we have something to tell you.'

'That might change our minds about letting Emma stay with us?' he asked.

'Yes,' said Hermione, a serious expression on her face. 'but it's a secret. You can't tell anyone, especially no-one magical. You can't even tell Harry or Ron.'

'But Harry and Ron are your friends as well.' said Jane, confused.

'It must be a very big secret.' surmised Richard.

'It is.' said Hermione, authoritatively.

'Okay then.' said Jane. 'It's not our secret, so you have our word.'

'What is it?' asked Richard.

'It's not my secret either.' said Hermione, looking at Emma. Mr and Mrs Granger followed suit.

Emma sighed, embarrassed. This was far more attention than she was comfortable with. She decided to get it over with.

'I'm a vampire.' she said, with a hint of deja vu.

Mr and Mrs Granger looked taken aback, but not for as long as she expected they would.

'Really?' asked Richard, curiosity and interest clearly evident in his expression.

'Yes, sir.' said Emma, confused as to why they weren't running away.

'So, do you have fangs?' he asked, smiling now, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Yes, sir.' she replied, and barred her teeth at him.

'Those are some very impressive cuspids!' he exclaimed. 'How-'

'Not now, dear.' interrupted Jane, turning to Hermione. 'You said this would change our mind. What exactly did you mean?'

'Because,' said Emma, speaking first. 'it's possible that I could be a danger to you or your family. I don't mean to be, but given my condition, it's something I can't always control.'

'What she means, Mum, is if you cut yourself and bleed all over the floor, she _might_ lose control.' said Hermione. 'But she's only lost control once, and it was nearly a year ago, not long after she first became a vampire. What's more likely to happen is that she'll hold her breath and run away.'

Richard and Jane nodded their heads, thoughtfully.

'Besides, if she does lose control, I can stop her.' grinned Hermione, conspiratorially, pulling out her wand. 'But, nobody at the orphanage would be able to.'

'So how would you rate the danger, sweetie?' asked Richard to Hermione, finally.

'Negligible.' she said, matter of factly.

'Emma?' he asked.

'Unlikely.' she stammered.

Richard then turned to Jane and they both nodded again.

'That settles it then.' he said, starting the engine. 'Emma, you are still very welcome to stay with us.'

It was with that declaration that Emma found herself beaming from ear to ear while they were driving through the London streets, not toward her orphanage, but to a real home, with a kind family and an amazing best friend.


End file.
